Let Thy Conscience Be Thy Guide (But Not My Guide!): Physicians and the Duty to Refer
McGill Journal of Law and Health 2016 10(2)
53 Pages Posted: 18 Oct 2016 Last revised: 21 Feb 2017
Date Written: October 12, 2016
Abstract
This article analyses a court challenge brought by a group of physicians and advocacy groups to practice guidelines promulgated by their regulatory body. The guidelines require physicians with conscience or religious objections to providing certain kinds of care to effectively refer patients to a non-objecting physician. The author considers the specific context of abortion and contraception as the location of conscience objections. The author concludes that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to physicians and requires them to abide by the regulatory guidelines.
Keywords: Charter, medicine, conscience, physicians, abortion, contraception, religion
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