Published 23 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a3122
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a3122

News

Bush administration issues rule to protect health workers who object to medical procedures

Janice Hopkins Tanne

1 New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The US Department of Health and Human Services issued a last minute rule to protect healthcare workers from discrimination if they refuse to participate in medical care to which they have religious or moral objections (BMJ 2008;337:a1509 and a1889).

Such edicts are called "midnight rules" because they are issued at the last moment before an administration leaves office.

The ruling comes into effect on 18 January, the day before President George Bush leaves office. It covers doctors and nurses who do not want to participate in specific procedures, and many other workers, including those who clean instruments, schedule appointments, or file insurance claim forms.

Press attention has focused on health workers who object to abortions. However, the ruling can apply to health workers who object to providing reproductive care, end of life care, or care for people to whose lifestyle they object to. The ruling does not define abortion, . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?

Relevant Article

Obama plans to repeal Bush’s "conscience clause" ruling
Janice Hopkins Tanne
BMJ 2009 338: b1126. [Extract] [Full Text]

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ