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THE QUESTION
Physicians' Obligations
Are physicians' primary obligations to their patients or their religious convictions?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on August 8, 2007 11:07 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Physicians, Heal Others
Physicians' primary obligations are to their patients, without a doubt. They have other obligations, of course, including to wider society, to their professional colleagues, both physicians and other health care professionals, to their employing institutions, and to their own ethical...
Posted by Julia Neuberger, on September 5, 2007 6:54 AM
What If More than the Doctor and Patient Are Involved?
In a question like this, we might also do well to try to think beyond the rather limited frame of middle-class America.
Posted by Gustav Niebuhr, on August 14, 2007 9:48 AM
'Do No Harm'
A physician’s primary responsibility is to care for his patient, to do no harm, to help in healing, and to protect the patient's life; that is an absolute obligation.
Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on August 14, 2007 8:47 AM
Beyond Saying "No"
For the believer, serving a patient is itself a matter of religious conviction.
Posted by Richard Mouw, on August 13, 2007 9:30 AM
A Necessary Tension!
If our choice is between religious fundamentalists and secular fundamentalists, patients' interests will not be maximally perceived yet alone honored.
Posted by Irwin Kula, on August 13, 2007 8:42 AM
Two Commitments in Competition?
For most physicians the call to make an exception to "standard practice" is rare, and has to be dealt with as such. If that "rarity" becomes all-consuming, it may mean that a physician may have to leave a practice.
Posted by Martin Marty, on August 13, 2007 7:14 AM
Freedom of Medicine and of Conscience
The question’s secular-antireligious bias is blatant....religion and medicine are only superficially and secondarily in conflict.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on August 13, 2007 6:40 AM
The Doctor as Artist and Chicken Soup as Prescription
Healing is an art that goes beyond mere science and morality transcends legal jargon.
Posted by Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, on August 10, 2007 12:26 PM
Balance of Rights
Patients should not be required to accept treatments that they consider immoral.
Posted by Pamela K. Taylor, on August 10, 2007 11:56 AM
Jesus, the Healer
Christian physicians don’t have to look very far for an example of what to do about this. Jesus was a healer. He touched people that would make him unclean. Or he healed people on the Sabbath to the chagrin of...
Posted by Bob Edgar, on August 10, 2007 10:51 AM
Honesty Best Patient Policy
Physicians' primary obligations are to their patients, without a doubt. They have other obligations, of course, including to wider society, to their professional colleagues, both physicians and other health care professionals, to their employing institutions, and to their own ethical...
Posted by Julia Neuberger, on August 10, 2007 8:15 AM
Doctors Are Not Gods
It is unconscionable for doctors to deprive patients of information they need to make an informed choice. The Bush administration has encouraged this kind of misleading, faith-based medicine.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on August 9, 2007 10:28 AM
Physician, Heal Thy Patients
Most doctors respect the religious beliefs of their patients, except when they might conflict with sound medicine and the best interests of the patient.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on August 9, 2007 9:25 AM
The Patient-Physician Religious Relationship
Once a physician-patient relationship is established, the primary responsibility is to the whole person, body and soul.
Posted by William J. Byron, on August 9, 2007 8:46 AM
Compassion and Conscience
A professional’s obligations are not simply to the client/patient. There are obligations also to society at large and the common good.
Posted by Thomas J. Reese, S.J., on August 9, 2007 6:05 AM
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