Grandma wouldn’t let him give me the car so he traded it in on a Toyota Corona. ACK!

I also doubt that health care workers would judge people (gays, etc.) and decide not to treat them. Hospitals will have to spell out in contracts what is expected of their employees.

Medical ‘Conscience Rule’ may be ethical hot potato

Step aside, inaugural prayer furor, a new controversy is burning — the Bush administration’s newly approved “conscience rule” for health care workers.

Under the rule, which takes effect mid-January, anyone from the brain surgeon to the pharmacy cashier can opt out of participating in care to which they have a moral or religious objection.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt described it as a rule to protect “the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience.”

….Currently religion-based health care service providers, such as the vast Catholic health care network, have complained that some federal and state laws require their employees to provide care in opposition to the teachings of their faith. The new rule would override state laws that require hospitals to tell rape victims about access to emergency contraception, for example.

Opponents of the rule are outraged (of course, opponents of anything are always “outraged” but the anger here is sizzling).

Their case: Women seeing reproductive health care, gay individuals and couples dealing with emergencies or even routine treatment, even people who see vaccines or antibiotics for their babies will face health care roulette on all fronts. Who knows the beliefs of the triage nurse in the ER?