(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Michigan House of Representatives passes law that allows doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers to refuse treatment to anyone who they personally object to on "moral, ethical, or religious grounds"

"I'm sorry, I don't feel like doing my job for jews, fags, or people who dress like you."

Comments

Just more to add to my Kill the Humans program

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

Wasn't there some kind of, I don't know, oath thingy they had to take...

Something about healing the sick or something?

Re: Just more to add to my Kill the Humans program

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

First do no harm =/= "fags are icky!"

[zenten.livejournal.com]

So in Michigan politicians can be refused treatment on moral grounds?

Punks are people too

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

Fuck man! That's insane! Even if it does pass their Senate, it'll never make it past a federal court ... it's blatantly unconstitutional, since it conflicts with the equal protection clause of the 14th Admendment.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, here is the bill. It doesn't quite say "patient or procedure" as that site suggests, but that might be because I'm not fluent in legalese.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Section 3 d) defines what a health care provider is. It includes everything.
Section 3 F) defines "participating" as follows:

f) "Participate" or "participating" means, at a minimum, to
counsel, refer, perform, administer, prescribe, dispense, treat,
withhold, withdraw, diagnose, test, evaluate, train, research,
prepare, or provide medical advice or material or physical
assistance in a health care service.


Sec. 5. (1) A health care provider may object as a matter
of conscience to providing or participating in a health care
service on ethical, moral, or religious grounds.


(3) A health care provider may assert his or her
conscientious objection under any of the following conditions:
(a) Upon being offered employment.
(b) At the time the health care provider adopts [an]
ethical, moral, or religious belief system that
conflicts with participation in a health care service.
(c) Within 24 hours after he or she is asked or has received
notice that he or she is scheduled to participate in a health
care service to which he or she conscientiously objects.

an employer shall not require the objecting health care provider to provide or participate in the objectionable health care service.

(4) An employer shall not refuse employment or staff
privileges to a health care provider who has exercised his or her
right to assert an objection to providing or participating in a
health care service


a health care
provider's objection to providing or participating in a health
care service as described in section 5 shall not be the basis for
1 or more of the following:
(a) Civil liability to another person.
(b) Criminal action.
(c) Administrative or licensure action.
(d) Termination of employment or refusal of staff privileges
at a health facility.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
So no, it *does* say "patient or procedure", and it allows you to object to any procedure at any time, and you cannot be censured or fired for it unless performing *that specific preocedure* on *that specific class of patient* is in the job description you agreed to when they hired you. You also are not allowed to refuse emergency treatment unless the patient can get to somebody else within 24 hours.

Michigan: Protecting your religious freedoms by making sure jews, muslims, and atheists don't get medical treatment!

Re: Punks are people too

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Those darn dirty activist judges! Don't they know that the federal government is big on STATE'S RIGHTS?!?

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

I still expect to see "spirit of the law" type sashaying, since it doesn't say "may object to providing a health care service to any specific person or persons", even though, yes, "participate" does have that meaning inclusive as described up there. They'll just wiggle by saying that it was procedures the providers were supposed to object to.

Don't get me wrong, *I* am not defending the bill. I would very much like to see the persons who drafted this bill getting to eat it, with a side of the Hippocrates Oath and a nice Chianti. I'm not even playing Devil's Advocate. I'm just being pessimistic.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Also, my Google-fu just totally failed me this morning. I couldn't get a single hit pointing back to this from Google News. It being five days old shouldn't have been a problem. Any hints on search terms?

[spartonian.livejournal.com]

Time to change state of residency....

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Nope. twistedchick couldn't find one, either.

But the Michigan State Legislature website has a record of it passig the house and being presented before the senate, both dating in 2004. Frankly, it looks like it's a piece of legislation that passed under the radar last year.