Ethical and juridical foundations of conscientious objection for health care workers.

Full Abstract

In front of the evolution of medicine and biotechnology, health care workers are called upon to take part within new biomedical practices, that may overcome the limit of acceptability, as it is perceived by their moral conscience. Issues as abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, artificial fertilisation, experimentation on human embryos and prescription of contraceptives and abortifacients call into play the right to conscientious objection of health care personnel, and in some cases, perhaps of physicians and pharmacists too. This recall--already present in many codes of professional conduct and medical ethics--sounds today as a necessity, which asks for a serious deepening of the content, the applicability and the new hypothesis of conscientious objection, in the light of bioethics and law. In particular, the self-determination and often exasperated autonomy of the patient within these practices makes a new principle of professional integrity arise, to protect the physician's conscientious convictions, if the request of the patient or society seem to violate some fundamental human values.

Author information

Author/s: Gambino, Gabriella (G); Spagnolo, Antonio G (AG);

Affiliation: Institute of Bioethics, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, School of Medicine, Largo F. Vitto 1, Rome, Italy.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Medicínska etika a bioetika : casopis Ústavu medicínskej etiky a bioetiky = Medical ethics & bioethics : journal of the Institute of Medical Ethics & Bioethics (Med Etika Bioet), published in Slovakia. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2002 Spring-Summer; vol 9 (issue 1-2) : pp 3-5

Dates: Created 2005/11/08; Completed 2006/03/07; Revised 2006/09/04;

PMID: 16276661, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.