RIP Dr Tiller

[blamebrampton]

America, you sadden me. And to those churches who have preached hate against this man and his clinic for years, you are to blame, don't pretend otherwise.

In other news, the last survivor of the Titanic has died, which is one of those odd pieces of trivia that should mean nothing, and yet is still sad. Biscuit the spare cat has returned from wherever she has been hiding for the last week, and whoever cast Calista Flockhart as a character younger than Rachel Griffiths and only slightly older than Balthazar Getty is a cruel, cruel bastard.

Comments

[noeon.livejournal.com]

You've raised a question I've been wondering about. His clinic performed elective late-term abortions and women would have had the option, if deemed medically necessary, to have abortions at the hospital? With the kerfuffle about pharmacists not handing out "morning after" pills, I'm wondering if there were practical difficulties facing women who needed their care deemed medically necessary. Not that it makes murder any less murder (Dr. Tiller's that is).

[joanwilder.livejournal.com]

Nursing professionals, as well as others (pharmacists, doctors, O.R. techs, etc) have the right to refuse to participate in procedures that are considered morally ambiguous/conflict with their own ethical beliefs. This is usually not a problem, as there are always people who don't have those objections and can step up. Note that this does not apply to emergency, life-saving treatment provided, say, in an ER. In the case of procedures where the life of the mother/baby is at risk, there're are specialty OB/GYN groups that handle only this type of patient.

The question of pharmacists refusing to dispense the morning after pill is more problematic, and although much has been made by the media about this issue, for the large majority of pharmacists it's a question of liability, as they're required to counsel the individual before dispensing the drug pak. Plan B, if given to a pregnant woman, can cause major congenital/genetic defects, so it's a gray area. What if the woman is hoping to use it to abort instead of prevent pregnancy? Who's liable when she carries a pregnancy to term and there're problems? From the pharmacists I've spoken with when I worked for a major healthcare insurer, this was their main reservation, not the idea of emergency contraception per se. In the U.S, at least, I think much of this problem would go away if they just take the pharmacist out of the loop.