RE: Religious people in the medical field
November 10, 2018 at 7:47 pm
(This post was last modified: November 10, 2018 at 7:48 pm by Aliza.)
(November 10, 2018 at 6:34 pm)wyzas Wrote:(November 10, 2018 at 5:37 pm)Belaqua Wrote: Anyone who thinks a religious person can't be a good doctor or nurse is ignorant of history, and probably a bigot.
We're not talking about history, we're talking about current healthcare. Religions objections allow for refusal of treatment. A medical professionals ability to refuse treatment for any condition that causes a risk/harm to the patient should not be allowed in medicine.
Should we talk about LGBT treatment refusals, maybe refusals in reproductive emergency medicine?
Exactly who are the bigots?
(November 10, 2018 at 6:32 pm)Belaqua Wrote: I've known two Christian doctors and one nurse here in Japan.
The first religious doctor I met converted to Christianity after his city got nuked. He was young and his family had been burned up, and he wanted the spiritual support that the church gave him. He founded a hospital, took a tiny salary, and lived in a 4-mat room on the top floor. He developed some of the first techniques for doing endoscopic examinations of the stomach.
The second doctor came from a Christian family in Nagasaki, which has a minority Christian neighborhood (it was basically ground zero for the bomb there). After the war he founded a group called Physicians against Nuclear Weapons and was active in peace movements around the world.
The nurse volunteered in a poor part of Brazil after she graduated from school. She was so impressed by the dedication of the Christian volunteers she met that she converted while she was there. After coming back to Japan she continues to work with the most difficult and unrewarding patients.
Let me tell you about this one christian, in band camp, ...............blah, blah, blah. I can give you stories of practitioners that place medicine first, religion something less than first. That is what medicine should be. Caring for the patient no matter the religious belief(s), practitioner or patient.
If a religious doctor refuses to provide treatment on the grounds of religious convictions, then that doctor should in no short order become your former doctor. If a doctor simply believes Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins (or whatever it is Christians believe) and they want to deck their office out with things that make them feel comfortable, and this doctor can also cure cancer or remove a brain tumor, then I say pick and choose your battles.
