Legal and Ethical Issues in Physicians Right of Conscientious Objection in Healthcare Service Delivery: A Comparative Reflection.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Many practitioners in the health care sector decline to render certain professional services to patients on the ground of having conscientious objection to such services. This has inevitably attracted hot debates and controversies. Some believe it is not consistent with the professional responsibilities and ethics of health care professions for practitioners to deny necessary (therapeutic) treatment to patients while some others hold the view that it is indeed illegal and contravenes constitutional rights of patients to have access to medical care. Concerned practitioners argue on the other hand that they are as entitled as any other person to refrain from participating in any procedure to which they object on the ground of conscience and that the fact of their being in the care sector does not obliterate their constitutional right to conscience and to make reasonable private choices that guarantees the dignity and security of their person.