To the editor:
The furor over pharmacists' refusal to dispense a medication (visit "AMA Acts to Protect Access to Prescriptions,") whose function is, in their opinion, morally repugnant has a direct analogy to physicians' practices. Many are the ethicists who tell students and practicing physicians that it's "OK" to refuse to, for example, do an abortion but that they "must" be willing to refer the mother to someone who is willing to do so.
Of course, I "must" do no such thing. It ought to be seen as ludicrous and irresponsible to suggest that I am ethically obligated to assist someone to do something I know to be a deep moral wrong. If and when it becomes legal, as advocated by (Princeton University bioethicist Peter) Singer, to have newborns "put down" at their parents' discretion, will such ethicists have the nerve to say the same thing?
The practice of medicine, Dr. Forfa's recent letter notwithstanding, is and should be firmly grounded in religious principles, absent which we have no good reason to hold the interests of our patients above our own, which is the hallmark of a physician. We tamper with that grounding at our peril. The individual consciences of physicians must guide their behavior, and they must not be coerced into doing something they think is unethical.
Jeremy Klein, M.D., F.A.A.F.P.
Louisa, Ky.
