When doctors went to medical school, the goalposts about abortion, euthanasia, and their freedom to choose were not where political and popular opinion have recently shifted them. But what do politics and popular opinion have to do with the right of a doctor to choose re his participation in ethical or medical matters? Even patients have the right to choose or refuse medical treatments. Do politicians and the populous now tell doctors how they should conduct their practices and do medical boards have to fall in line with the persuasion of any current government? This shows moral weakness on the part of medical boards. Doctors who have been unwilling to participate in abortions or euthanasia provide valuable care for hundreds or even thousands of people - but making them choose between their conscience and their hard-won profession will not increase the number of doctors who will participate in abortions but will only reduce the number of doctors available in the system as they will have to move to one of the many jurisdictions around the world that don't force them at act against their consciences. If you truly care about the number of patients who don't currently have a doctor, you would not add to the stress in the system by taking steps that will reduce the number of doctors. I admire doctors who have a conscience. What will the next government ask you to do? Will you just jump when they tell you to? Do you want to be the head or the tail? Nothing will change from the current situation if you just leave doctors alone who choose not to participate in a couple of controversial procedures. Using force doesn't make controversial procedures more acceptable it just takes away freedoms as well as constitutional rights. Work instead to encourage and attract doctors and ensure that the next-gen of medical students will not fall victim to the misuse of power by a current, non-medically trained government that wants to override the Hippocratic Oath as well as override the current global norms of medical practice which have been the norm and gold standard over centuries.
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