To the editor:
In response to Dr. Forfa’s letter, I would like to respectfully point out that the conscience is a fundamental human right. It is not possible for me to demand another to act in opposition to that right without violating an essential aspect of our humanity. The issue at hand is not whether I agree or disagree with the person’s particular stand, but whether I respect them as a human enough to allow that person to act in accordance with their right of conscience. I am an individual while I am in the clinic caring for patients. I can’t neatly compartmentalize myself into who I am at work and who I am elsewhere. Some of the worst atrocities in history happened when people quietly acquiesced to the pressure of society in opposition to the dictates of their conscience. Let us not make the same mistake.
Carol Featherstone, M.D.
New Hope, Minn.
