HHS Proposed Regulation 'Should Be Adopted,' Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 19 Sep 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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A proposed HHS regulation that would allow health care providers who receive federal grants to "opt out" of care they reject to based on moral or religious grounds "should be viewed as a positive development and a welcome point of agreement across the political spectrum," Joxel Garcia, an ob-gyn and assistant secretary for health at HHS, writes in a Washington Times opinion piece. Instead, Garcia writes the proposed regulation is "being criticized by people who seem to think that health care workers should be compelled to perform certain medical services against their will." According to Garcia, a patient's ability to receive any legal service would not be threatened by the rule.

However, there is "mounting pressure" to "disregard" the existing laws that "mak[e] clear that a person does not forfeit the right to follow his or her conscience upon the issuance of a medical or nursing degree," Garcia writes. "Health care providers are not merely the equivalent of vending machines, robotically providing a service once they receive enough money -- and thankfully so," Garcia writes, adding that some critics of the regulation "suggest that health care workers with strong, personal convictions should simply get out of the medical field. Such a narrow-minded view shows a lack of concern not only for health care workers but for patients and their health. This is the last thing we need as we face a crippling shortage of workers -- particularly ob-gyns. Instead, the wise approach is the one that has already been established by law: to respect health care workers' rights to abstain from actions that violate their conscience and to respect institutions' rights as well."

According to Garcia, when the rule goes into effect some time after the public comment period ends on Sept. 25, "many health care workers will benefit from clearer guidance and better enforcement of the law, and they and won't have to sacrifice their personal convictions to preserve their professional livelihoods" (Garcia, Washington Times, 9/17).

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