Thursday, 31 May 2012

Please respond to consultation on conscientious objection

The General Medical Council (GMC) has issued new draft guidance for doctors on "Personal beliefs and medical practice". The draft deals with the important issue of conscientious objection, and it seeks to control how doctors deal with requests for treatments which they do not in conscience provide, which may include abortion, IVF, contraception, the morning-after pill, or euthanasia.
There are serious flaws in the draft and doctor who hold pro-life values could be penalised or prevented from practising medicine as a result. The GMC has the power to strike doctors off the medical register and they warn doctors what the consequences may be:
"Serious or persistent failure to follow this guidance will put your registration at risk."

Please respond to this consultation yourself and/or ask others (especially doctors). This consultation is being conducted online only. Please visit: http://gmc.e-consultation.net/econsult/ and click on "Consultation on Personal beliefs and medical practice"

You need to register to contribute but it is free to do so. The deadline for comments is 13 June 2012.
SPUC has published a guideline brief http://www.spuc.org.uk/campaigns/alerts/gmc_consultation_2012 to help you respond to the questions in the consultation.

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
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