Please, can you give a link to that information. It is not clear whose beliefs prevent the doctor to give medical assistance. Is it the patients' or the doctor's?

never have i seen so many rights taken from people than in this year. gay marriage taken back, single people cant even adopt in florida, trying to change the constitution to enter hate, peopel trying to play with peoples right ot bear arms in states. i dont care what you believe i just believe it dont take the right from someone esle.

this means if a doctor doesnt believe in birth control "at all", he will tell you you shouldnt be having sex instead of giving it to you. Also if he doesnt belivee in abortion he will deny you one, even if you were raped. My greatest fear is due to the ignorance of them probably thinking christian only doctors get control of there patients and other peoples lives, they forgot there is more than one religion in the U.S. i was terrified at this when i heard it because i know how people are. what if a doctor refuses to treat someone who's dying or injured because he's gay and he doesnt believe gays should live because tehy think its a sin, or even not treat aids patients, or what if he doesnt believe in any other religion than his own and thinks its a sin and refuses treatment then? imagine sides being taken up, people harmed because someone refused to do their job their duty. soliders dont think, because they do their duty there job, despite believing in killing or not. they may not beleive what you beelive but they will fight and die for you to have the right to believe what you believe. hell bodyguards to the president cant have people surrounding him who let there beliefs or thoughts or opinions interfere with them doing their job. do you think doctors (people) will start abusing that power if it was given to them, and how long before eye for an eye starts. i can only think of the negative you refuse treatment, refuse to do your job, what am i to do to you.

A doctor is there to provide medical help not to give spiritaul guidance. Yes it goes aginst the hypocatic oath!! Would you ask an auto mechanic how you should drive!

This is the first I have heard of this, do you have a link to show that this is a fact? How can Bush get a bill passed now, when Jan. 20th is right around the corner?

This is America. Your rights end where mine begin. Period. You have a right to your beliefs, I have a right to mine. At NO time should YOUR beliefs infringe upon mine. This is against the Hippocratic Oath, and as far as I'm concerned, unconstitutional.

Ya know, you can always go to another doctor. I don't think I would want to receive treatment from a doctor who didn't believe in that treatment. Patients already have the right to refuse treatment that they don't believe in. That is why we have to answer the questions about religious beliefs when having a treatment that might require a blood transfusion. Why should a doctor be forced to do something they believe is wrong? Forget the whole abortion question, what if a doctor had a problem with a whole different medical treatment from abortion/birth control? For instance, what if he felt it was wrong to treat a particular cancer in and elderly person, because he felt that there was no hope of the treatment succeeding and he felt the treatment was so agonizing as to amount to torture? If you wanted that treatment, wouldn't it be better to go to a doctor who believed in it than to get it from a doctor who didn't? Or might it be a good thing to have an honest conversation with the doctor about why he felt that way, so that you would have another piece of information to help make your decision? This is America. Doctors are not a government institution. This is not a separation of church and state issue. If you want to say they should have to do what they are told if they take government money, you will just make it even harder for someone to get treatment with Medicare or Medicaid. Most doctors already refuse to treat people on government insurance. They have the right to their beliefs, just like you do. They should not be forced to do something against their will anymore than you should.

Dear Devour Thanks, I just read the link you kindly provided. It is true, but with a slight twist. The bill proposes the right of doctors to deny abortions in federal funded premises. It is not "the right to deny treatment." I don't know if abortion is a "treatment." I am pro choice but, in this case I would say yes to Mr. Bush. Doctors can not be forced to perform something that goes against their values and is not endangering the live of a woman.

If the treatment is immediately necessary to safeguard the life or future health of the patient (such as in an ER), then I do not believe a doctor should be able to refuse traetment based on a "crisis of conscience". Outside of that, I believe doctors should be required to give ACCURATE information and referals to patients requesting medical treatment or prescriptions that the doctor refuses to provide. I do not think they should be required to provide the treatment/prescription themselves.

I think so long as the doctor in question doesn't impose their belief on the patient and assists the patient to find another doctor then there isn't a problem.

I don't quite understand what type of treatment it could be unless you're talking about abortion. I think doctors are allowed to practice what kind of medicine they want and are not required to perform abortions, acupuncture, etc. If my doctor didn't want to do something I thought necessary, I'd get a second opinion.

Looks like to me that it only pertains to abortion. As far as I know, that is a specialty field of medicine and only the doctors who are pro-choice would practice it...am I wrong?

Yeah sounds kinda like the whole abortion issue. But that's totally fair for a doctor to simply say "No" if they don't believe in the circumstances of the abortion etc.