Denver Christian Docs

All of us need access to healthcare. We Christian docs are called to provide care. But what happens if there just plain aren't enough of us?

Currently we are at an uneasy state with Physicians in the US. We already have fewer docs per population than other major developed countries (2.4 per thousand, vs 3.1 per thousand.) We are growing in numbers more slowly than our general population is. And in several states, and in several specialties, shortages are growing severe.

So that is the background. Now enter Federal Healthcare Reform.

Much of it sounds good. However, there is a fly in the ointment.

A recent IBD poll shows that as many as 45% of American Doctors will QUIT practicing if current proposals pass!

Is this a morally acceptable position? Each of us has to answer that for him/her self. Regardless of our positions, however, we will be working a lot harder.

Now, notice a new fly in the ointment. The Administration earlier this year announced that it would like to rescind the HHS regulations that recently went into effect to protect the conscience rights of healthcare providers. In brief, there have been a couple of Congressional actions (the Church amendments and the Hyde-Weldon amendment) that state that it is illegal to discriminate against a healthcare professional that refuses to do procedures that violate her conscience. Unfortunately (only a lawyer could come up with this) the amendments contain no enforcement provisions! So a person can break Federal law by forcing you to perform an abortion or quit, and there is no penalty.

The recent HHS regulations simply codify a set of enforcement provisions, that's all. The President wants to get rid of that enforcement. Let me ask you: if it was illegal to speed down I-25, but you knew there were no radar patrolmen, airplanes, speed traps, in fact that there was no way you could get any kind of citation, how fast would you really drive?

Now the Christian Medical and Dental Associations has 16000 members. This is certainly far fewer than the total number of doctors of Christian Faith in the United States. A recent scientific poll of 2865 members of various faith based organizations showed that 95% would quit practice rather than violate their conscience. I don't have data, but I'm highly suspicious that Christian and Catholic docs quitting would disproportiately hurt the poor and underserved. As a general rule, believing Christians of all stripes do more charity work on their own than do secular folks, and the least personally charitable are those on the Left. (There are about 800,000 physicians currently in practice in the US.)

Is conscience protection really a problem? 32% of docs surveyed said they had been pressured to refer a patient for a procedure that violated their conscience. 39% were pressured by faculty during training to do the same. This is not rare. I personally know an OB-GYN resident, at a CATHOLIC HOSPITAL, who reported such pressure. This is a real problem. Makes you wonder who is really "imposing their morality on others."

Another interesting fact: about 16% of beds in the US are in Catholic Hospitals. What if they shut down rather than bend to a US government mandate? How arrogant to think that a 2000 year old international religious group would reverse their opinion of abortion based on current political fashion in the US!

In summary, the poor and rural communities of the United States are about to be hammered. Write your congressman, senators, and the President.

Your freedom to care for patients according to ethical standards is under attack. Go to this website for further information.