{"id":17836,"date":"2017-01-18T07:40:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T07:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/conscience-in-residency-project-supports-doctors-in-training-45101\/"},"modified":"2017-01-18T07:40:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T07:40:00","slug":"conscience-in-residency-project-supports-doctors-in-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/01\/conscience-in-residency-project-supports-doctors-in-training\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Conscience in Residency’ project supports doctors in training"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Austin, Texas, Jan 18, 2017 \/ 12:40 am (National Catholic Register<\/a>).- When it came time for medical student Ashley Stone to apply to OB\/GYN residency programs, she was determined that nothing would stand in her way \u2013 including her Catholic beliefs on contraception, sterilization and abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m normally really stubborn,\u201d said Stone, 27. \u201c[I thought] \u2018It\u2019s my right to go wherever I want.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she wanted to get some advice from her medical school program director before she turned in her application.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the thing: I don\u2019t want to do these things because of my beliefs,\u201d Stone told her director.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d her director told her, \u201cyou can\u2019t come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be rejected out of hand by her own institution was frustrating, admits Stone, now a second-year resident at the University of Texas at Austin. But it was a frustration she was prepared for.<\/p>\n

The negative reaction to her pro-life beliefs was \u201calways apparent,\u201d she said. \u201cEven just going into the medical field in general [not necessarily OB\/GYN specifically], you\u2019re not \u2018mainstream\u2019\u201d if you\u2019re pro-life.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the inspiration behind the \u201cConscience in Residency<\/a><\/strong>\u201d project. Created and managed by a small group of residency students scattered across the country, Conscience in Residency (CIR) is a web-based project that provides a network for residents \u201cwho want to practice medicine according to logical, well-formed, evidence-based judgments,\u201d the site explains. It also provides research on subjects ranging from contraception and sterilization to gender-identity issues and homosexuality, giving residents facts to rely on when they have a challenging conversation about their beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Residency is] the most difficult period in being or becoming a physician,\u201d said Cara Buskmiller, an OB\/GYN resident at St. Louis University, who supervises the website.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a [medical] student, you\u2019re not responsible for prescriptions. You can say what you think, and it doesn\u2019t affect your becoming a physician. In residency, the program controls you a lot more. If your program is not open to you choosing things to do and not to do, you\u2019re stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents \u2026 are the bottom of the barrel: When the attending [physician] says, \u2018Jump,\u2019 they have to say, \u2018How high?\u2019 They have no protection,\u201d agreed Dr. Donna Harrison, executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Providers\u2019 Rights<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn many residency programs, there\u2019s tremendous pressure to participate in abortions. In some residency programs, even though it\u2019s not legal, they\u2019re actually required to participate. The laws in place right now have no private right of action [for residents].\u201d<\/p>\n

If \u201cprivate right of action\u201d is a phrase that rings a bell, it\u2019s because of the Cathy DeCarlo case<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In 2009, DeCarlo \u2013 a nurse at New York\u2019s Mount Sinai Hospital \u2013 was forced to assist in an abortion in violation of her religious beliefs. When she took her case to court, it was thrown out because she had no private right of action.<\/p>\n

This is precisely why Harrison urges support for the \u201cConscience Protection Act,\u201d which would give health care providers the ability to file a civil suit if they feel discriminated against for their beliefs \u2013 as DeCarlo did, when she was threatened with charges of insubordination and patient abandonment if she did not participate in the abortion. Currently, health care providers who face discrimination for exercising their consciences have only one recourse: to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

The Conscience Protection Act is more needed than ever, in light of the recent redefinition of \u201csex discrimination.\u201d Section 1557 of the outgoing administration\u2019s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act extends protections on the \u201cbasis of sex\u201d to include \u2013 among other things \u2013 abortion. That means that a patient of a pro-life physician could sue for discrimination if the physician declines to perform a requested abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we desperately need is a real protection of conscience, in law, that says we have the right to conscientiously object to the taking of human life \u2013 and a private right of action,\u201d said Harrison. \u201cThen we, as citizens, can protect ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foresight and Courage<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In the meantime, CIR strives to provide solid research that residents can use to explain why they will not perform certain services or write certain prescriptions \u2013 and it provides support to medical students concerned about landing in a program that is receptive to their pro-life beliefs. In other words, said Buskmiller, it is a source of foresight and courage.<\/p>\n

It was her own experience in medical school that showed her how desperately important foresight is for pro-life medical students and residents.<\/p>\n

She was scrubbed up and prepared to assist on a caesarean section \u2013 but what followed was the patient\u2019s tubal ligation. \u201cThe attending physician handed me a clamp. Suddenly, I\u2019m holding a tube while they\u2019re tying it off. Before I could do anything, it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horrified, Buskmiller went to confession and had a long conversation with the priest. \u201cMy will was not there, but I sure didn\u2019t say anything [to object],\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n

Grateful for the grace of confession, Buskmiller used that experience to spur her to have more courage \u2013 and to plan better for other situations that might try to force her to act against her conscience.<\/p>\n

Though abortion, sterilization and abortifacients may be challenges specific to OB\/GYN residents, many residents face similar challenges to their consciences, Buskmiller pointed out. Psychiatric interns might work with patients considering surgery to alter their bodies to resemble the sex they identify with, or recovering from it, for instance, and surgery residents might be faced with the surgery itself.<\/p>\n

Recent legislation makes the situation seem bleak, but Buskmiller noted that it may actually be improving. An older attending physician once asked her how many pro-life residents were in training with her, and she counted between 15 and 20.<\/p>\n

Pleasantly surprised, the physician said that there had been only eight during his own time as a resident.<\/p>\n

And, Harrison pointed out, 85% of OB\/GYNs do not perform abortions. \u201cThat\u2019s a very reassuring number,\u201d she said. \u201cThat tells me I am not in the minority; I am actually in the majority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those kinds of facts are vital for health care providers to keep in mind \u2013 and perhaps especially for residents. It gives them solid ground to stand on \u2013 and it helps them realize that they are far from alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big myth is that somehow abortion is needed for medical care. It\u2019s not needed for medical care,\u201d emphasized Harrison.<\/p>\n

\u201cChile has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, and abortion has been illegal since \u201989. Same with Ireland \u2013 excellent maternal medical care, with no abortion [which remains illegal unless it occurs as the result of a medical intervention performed to save a mother\u2019s life].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to take the life of a patient to do excellent medical care,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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