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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo stupid. So mean-spirited. So bigoted.
Kentucky Lawmakers resurrect 'conscience' bill that would let doctors refuse to treat patients
A controversial proposal that would let medical workers and insurance companies refuse to perform or pay for health care services that violate their conscience is back before the Kentucky legislature, and opponents warn it could open the door to dangerous discrimination.
The so-called conscience bill, which stalled in 2020, took its first key step toward possibly becoming law when the Senate Judiciary Committee gave it the green light Thursday, although a few senators who voted to let it advance noted they still have some questions or potential changes to consider.
People opposed to the bill told lawmakers it could make it harder for already vulnerable patients including people struggling with addiction, survivors of sexual assault, individuals who are transgender and people of color to get treatment they need because health care workers could refuse to assist them based on their personal beliefs and prejudices.
Senate Bill 83's sponsor, Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, and some other Republican senators discussing the legislation Thursday indicated it does not let medical providers refuse to treat someone based on who they are as an individual.
Instead, it only allows them to refuse to provide a specific service if doing so would violate their conscience.
"The sole intent and purpose of this bill is to build a firewall of liability protection for health care providers between corporate and government intrusion in the practice of medicine, as well as potentially saving patients from themselves by allowing health care providers to practice what is truly in the best interest of their patients," Meredith said.
More....
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-general-assembly/2021/02/11/kentucky-conscience-bill-lets-doctors-refuse-treat-patients/6723494002/
****** Its not because of YOU I wont treat you ... its because of MY BELIEFS! What utter cruel bullshit!
****** They wail about government intrusion in the practice of medicine but look what they do to women who seek abortion, which is legal.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Haven't Kentucky voters had enough with these troglodyte politicians yet? That state is just a cesspool of hatred and bigotry.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)Would this law allow them to ask every patient a slew of questions about their lifestyle or religion before they commence treatment? For sure you couldnt work in an ER. They are just plain cruel.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)look progressive.
Well, maybe not.
I think I'll refer to their Rethuglican Congressional and State House representatives as the White Supremacy Caucus.
Got a lot of work to do to support Our Progressive Sisters and Brothers in all these States, bless them all.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)Letting them secede from our country to form their own little Conservatopia is sounding better and better. Leave us sane people alone.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)Sanity Claws
(21,848 posts)First, do no harm.
Leaving sick people untreated or to die seems contrary to the Hippocratic Oath.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)rickyhall
(4,889 posts)Can't do both, it's definitely un-Christian and inhuman.
3catwoman3
(23,987 posts)...Oath instead.
niyad
(113,306 posts)never interact with any living beings.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)Compassion or sense of community, thats for sure.
AllaN01Bear
(18,216 posts)hope this gets shot down in the courts .
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)If some over zealous Evangelical Christian doctor would legally be permitted to refuse treating patients on the basis of beliefs, he or she would have very few patients!
LakeArenal
(28,817 posts)Republicans just love the dead.
Happy V Day Amiga!!!
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)And they call themselves the pro-life party ....
Bettie
(16,109 posts)and my response is always the same.
It isn't as if doctors, nurses, pharmacists and the like don't know going in that they will have to do the things that they are now complaining about.
So, if you think your "conscience" won't allow you to DO YOUR FUCKING JOB, then go into another line of work.
I get so fucking tired of this, basically, right wing religious nutjobs trying to force their religious beliefs on others because of an overwhelming sense of privilege.
Why even become a doctor or nurse if this is how you feel?
And the part about letting insurance companies off the hook for payment of treatments for such things as addiction, alcoholism, attempted suicide or mental illness, Or, they wont pay for your cancer treatments because you smoked and thats a bad choice. It sets a very dangerous precedent.
patphil
(6,176 posts)Or if teachers decided not to teach homosexual high school kids.
Or if police looked the other way when a homosexual was being attacked...oh wait!, that actually happens.
As doctors, they took an oath to do no harm. Denial of treatment falls under the "doing harm" part of their oath.
These people have traveled far away from the teachings of Jesus; to a very dark place where judgement rules, and there is no room for love and compassion.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)Conservative Utopia ... only live among/deal with people just like yourself
BobTheSubgenius
(11,563 posts)"Conscience-stricken" pharmacists refusing to fill Rx that they didn't agree with.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)in case you haven't already guessed that!)
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)There are Republicans in other states who would love to see this become law, Ohio included!
paleotn
(17,913 posts)It's the latest in the Repukes endless attempts to force their screwy religious beliefs on the rest of us couched as "moral" imperatives. But, after Trump, these rancid pieces of shit have no standing when it comes to anything even remotely moral.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)Who come here from Pakistan or India or Iran could refuse to treat Christians.
Turbineguy
(37,331 posts)Like republican re-education camps.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)58Sunliner
(4,386 posts)Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)Traildogbob
(8,739 posts)My conscience objection to treat would be any GOP. Let all the MFers die. Make the planet great.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)Traildogbob
(8,739 posts)QOP raging, lunatic, murderous, greedy, liars is a Religion to me.
PatrickforO
(14,574 posts)treatment to black people. How many died, I wonder, because hospitals and doctors refused to treat them?
How many die now because of racism in medical treatment?
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)Disgraceful
murielm99
(30,741 posts)in childbirth. They die at a much higher rate than white women. Babies die, too.
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2019/02/20/why-are-black-women-at-such-high-risk-of-dying-from-pregnancy-complications
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)FakeNoose
(32,639 posts)Tuition and scholarships for minority students, maybe even a "free ride" through medical or nursing schools. This would be given in exchange for a promise by those graduates to work in clinics and hospitals for the economically disadvantaged. The grants could be offered to white students too, as long as they accept the same conditions.
Eventually those racist doctors are going to retire or die, and the next generation of medical professionals would have a better, less-racist attitude towards the populations they serve.
paleotn
(17,913 posts)Health care providers, with fucked up religious beliefs they want to IMPOSE on the rest of us, are the arbitrators of what's in a patient's best interest? These people are so full of shit. Just say it, Meredith. You want to impose your fucked up ideas about a Bronze / Iron Age set of myths on the rest of us. Fuck you, Meredith. Fuck you sideways.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)You better hope a doctor like this isnt your only option!
paleotn
(17,913 posts)The whole concept is so flawed it's laughable...if these jack-o-loons weren't serious about it.
gibraltar72
(7,504 posts)the_sly_pig
(741 posts)Same tactics have been used for years. Not sure why anyone is surprised.
flying_wahini
(6,594 posts)Jay25
(417 posts)MLAA
(17,289 posts)Lonestarblue
(9,988 posts)And organizations like ALEC, which is supported by corporate contributions. Republican legislators essentially do nothing but perhaps sometimes read the laws they vote on. They certainly do nothing for most of their constituents. No wonder so many people want to get elected as Republicans. its a cushy job where they have to do very little and get to pontificate about what good Christians they are and how liberals are destroying the country.
c-rational
(2,593 posts)even notice these laws are being enacted. They all need to be voted out of office.
maxrandb
(15,330 posts)does that mean my Insurance Company can't deny me coverage?
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)iluvtennis
(19,858 posts)have the numbers How could this pass that committee?
Fla Dem
(23,668 posts)I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
The classical version of the Hippocratic Oath is from the translation from the Greek by Ludwig Edelstein. From The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation, and Interpretation, by Ludwig Edelstein. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1943.
The modern version of the Hippocratic Oath was written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University.
https://www.medicinenet.com/hippocratic_oath/definition.htm
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
pazzyanne
(6,556 posts)Your post was posted just before I posted the same information. I self deleted mine and thow my support to your post.
Fla Dem
(23,668 posts)pazzyanne
(6,556 posts)Response to Ohiogal (Original post)
pazzyanne This message was self-deleted by its author.
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)ybbor
(1,554 posts)I just posted on FB about my racist Catholic School classmates racism and fanaticism for the orange anus.
These faux Christians would have hated Jesus and his message. These same folks had MLK quotes all over their pages on MLK day. They would have hated him today. I stated that he was the original BLM movement they had and denigrate today to rationalize their attack on 1/6.
We need to get ahold of these state legislatures to get back to normal.
Ohiogal
(31,999 posts)I know a little bit about that since I was raised in the Catholic Church but do not attend any more.
Catholic Charities and Catholic run overseas medical missions do some wonderful things to help struggling communities and people in third world nations. Yet it seems that so many Catholics are quite bigoted and are staunch Trump supporters. At least many that I have run into. I certainly hope more and more continue to turn away from Trumpism.
llmart
(15,539 posts)It's not really out of a sense of altruism or Christian principles. Years ago there used to be a Catholic newspaper (can't recall the name right now) and I'd see the front page and it'd be all about the poor starving children and babies in third world countries that they were helping and I say, "Yet they won't help the women with accessing birth control."
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)We have already seen how much their so called principles mean to them. What was that about deficit spending again?
KentuckyWoman
(6,679 posts)They aren't screaming to get government out of abortions ....
keithbvadu2
(36,806 posts)Next will be Protestants and Catholics refusing to provide health care to the other.
Many consider the other to be false Christians.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,586 posts)That's a bullshit phrase that QRepugs use to argue why they're trying to jam unconscionable legislation down our throats. This bill is another attempt to shut down abortions, including access to birth control drugs -- including the
"morning after" pill, among other things.
NoMoreRepugs
(9,425 posts)are terrifying.
Blue Owl
(50,374 posts)BannonsLiver
(16,387 posts)When I read the title I thought this was another thread from the thought police with an update on authorized nicknames for Lindsey Graham.
Patterson
(1,530 posts)Solly Mack
(90,767 posts)Wow.
North Shore Chicago
(3,316 posts)they don't call it the "hypocritical oath" for nothing.
This bill is awful, just awful.