Calif. Court Ruling On Physician Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation Allows Equal Treatment, Editorial Says

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice;  Medical Malpractice / Litigation;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 25 Aug 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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A California Supreme Court ruling that physicians cannot refuse medical treatment to gays and lesbians based on the physicians' religious beliefs "correctly focus[ed] on the basic principle of nondiscrimination," a Los Angeles Times editorial says. According to the Times, the case involved Guadalupe Benitez, who sought artificial insemination after failing to become pregnant. Benitez claimed she was refused treatment because of her sexual orientation, while the physicians she sued said they refused treatment because Benitez was not married.

According to the editorial, the ruling -- which made "clear" that physicians cannot "refuse a patient because of his or her sexual orientation" -- leaves physicians who hold certain religious beliefs in an "uncomfortable situation, one they can best manage by helping individual patients find the best practitioners for their specific medical needs." However, such physicians "have not lost all rights to practice within their beliefs," the editorial says, adding, "Physicians can refuse to perform any procedure, such as abortion or in vitro fertilization, that they find morally objectionable. But if they do perform such procedures, they cannot provide them to some groups of patients and not to others."

The "case already has some people crying judicial activism," but "activism has nothing to do with it," the editorial says, concluding, "The court is simply noting, with clarity and consistency, that as a protected class, gays and lesbians are entitled to equal treatment" (Los Angeles Times, 8/21).

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