A short overview: conscientious objection in the healing professions

What is conscientious objection?Conscientious objection refers to a person's refusal to engage a service that violates his or her deeply held beliefs about right and wrong.Although conscientious objection has a long history in the context of military service, this short overview focuses on conscience-based refusals in the medical professions.Specifically, this guide examines how conflicts between professional obligations and individual conscience are addressed by ethicists and other scholars. How did conscientious objection become an ethical and legal issue in the health professions?Conscientious objection in the health professions became a subject of public debate immediately following the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1973. 1 The first federal legislation protecting conscientious objection in health care, the Church Amendment (1973), 2 was written in direct response to Roe v. Wade.Following the Church Amendment, most States enacted "conscience clauses" to protect the conscience-based refusals of health care professionals. 3 Since then, health care professionals have appealed to conscience when objecting to a variety of treatments and procedures.Among other topics, common occasions for objections include: organ donation after cardiac death, palliative sedation, withdrawing medically provided nutrition and hydration, human embryonic stem cell research, and the use of animals in medical education. How do ethicists define conscientious objection in medicine?Ethicists and policy makers develop approaches to identifying and resolving conflicts with explicit or implicit standards for what is, and what is not, an objection based on "conscience."Benjamin has identified three ways in which "conscience" is often understood: Jere Odell, Rahul Abhyankar, Amber Malcolm, Avril Rua.A short overview.Conscientious objection in the healing professions a readers' guide to the ethical and social issues.