Friday, August 22, 2008

Do Only Harm

The Hippocratic Oath is no longer taken by all physicians and has fallen by the wayside because of the needs of the capitalist system. The most extreme examples are those doctors who assist in the torture and murder of state enemies in places like the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. But an equally dangerous threat to the American way is the notion some women have that they should be equal and have control of their bodies. The government, therefore, is stepping in to protect it's shock troops in the medical professions: Protecting health workers beliefs. (notice the title change between the delivery edition and that online).

The rule empowers federal health officials to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans, doctors' offices and other entities that do not accommodate employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable on personal, moral or religious grounds.

....

the regulation would explicitly allow workers to withhold information about such services and refuse to refer patients elsewhere.


Hiding behind a wall of false morals is not a new approach. And, of course, the people with morals aren't going to deny care based upon whether a patient "believes" in evolution: "I'm sorry sir, but I can only prescribe aspirin to you, all our anti-biotic and heart medicines have been developed by scientists using the principles of evolution." So this regulation is yet another bald-faced attack on women and their rights. The economy has developed too far to pull women from the workplace, but there's still a burning need to make sure they are kept second-class citizens — higher wages and civilization are at risk.