February 8, 2007
Survey Finds Many Doctors Refuse Information, Referrals on Controversial Procedures

Many physicians do not consider themselves obligated to provide information or to refer patients to other doctors when the physicians decline on moral or religious grounds to perform certain controversial procedures, such as administering terminal sedation to dying patients, providing abortions, or prescribing birth control to adolescents without parental approval, according to a survey reported in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Those doctors may be in the minority, the survey found, since most (63 percent) of the doctors who responded to the survey believe it's permissible for doctors to explain their moral objections to patients; 86 percent believe doctors must present all options to the patient; and 71 percent say doctors have a responsibility to refer a patient to another clinician who does not object to the requested procedure. But because that leaves a large number of physicians who do not feel obligated to provide patients with those alternatives, it is important for patients who want access to controversial procedures to inquire up-front whether their doctors will accommodate their requests, the survey advises. The article, "Religion, Conscience, and Controversial Clinical Practices," is published in the February 8, 2007, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and is available free at http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/356/6/593?query=TOC.