A new story on MSNBC.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19190916/) discusses the growing number of situations where physicians and others in the medical community feel that they can refuse various medical treatments if they violate the physician's personal religious beliefs. The article sets out various examples where completely legal treatments were denied due to doctors' religious beliefs on matters ranging from contraception, morning after pills, single parent adoptions, to gay adoption. Worse yet, several examples were in small town emergency rooms at perhaps the sole local hospital.
Personally, I am beyond over the Christianists trying to make everyone else live by their beliefs. Moreover, it is one thing for a doctor in private practice to refuse treatment, but something very different in a hospital emergency room setting, particularly if it is the only local hospital. If you are an ER doctor and are not willing to provide all legal treatments to patients, get a different job. Plain and simple.
Locally, there are two local hospital systems - one secular and the other part of a Catholic hospital system network. From my own experience, I know the secular hospital network accepts gay medical powers of attorney, etc. However, I advise my LGBT clients to avoid the Catholic hospitals because of problems other members of the LGBT community have described to me. Based on local news reports, one of the Catholic hospitals is in financial trouble and wants to downsize operations. Meanwhile, the hospital makes it self unwelcoming to a whole segment of the local community.
