Are there different spheres of conscience?
Interest in understanding the meaning of conscience and conscientious objection in medicine has recently emerged in the academic literature. We would like to contribute to this debate in four ways: (1) to underscore and challenge the existing hierarchy of conscientious objection in health care; (2) to highlight the importance of considering the lay public when discussing the role of conscientious objection in medicine; (3) to critique the numerous proposals put forth in favour of implementing review boards to assess whether appeals to conscience are justifiable, reasonable and sincere; and (4) to introduce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Siracusa Principles into the dialogue around conscience and suggest that perhaps conscientious objection is a human right.
Sutton
Erica J
EJ
Collaborative Program in Bioethics, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Upshur
Ross E G
RE
D044363:Contraception, Postcoital; D028744:Ethics Committees, Research; D005260:Female; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D028681:Moral Obligations; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011634:Public Health; D016079:Refusal to Treat / Q000941:ethics*; D012068:Religion and Medicine