So there's the whole "We don't serve their kind here" kind of discrimination. And there's the "I feel that to bake you a wedding cake would make me complicit in your sin" kind of discrimination.
But for a doctor to refuse treatment? And not just treatment of, say, a gay patient, but of the baby of a lesbian couple?
And to do so based on "much prayer" (coupled with an odd "I would never judge" addendum)?
I'm really trying to figure how this Christian (presumably, in context) can reconcile this action, not just with her medical oath, but with Jesus own words. From the Parable of the Good Samaritan (http://goo.gl/GBGuGR), to Matthew 25:31-46 (http://goo.gl/3g4Ie7), this just seems so antithetical to Christian teaching, no matter what one feels about whether homosexual behavior is sinful.
I can understand hate. Or fear. Or revulsion. Or a desire to stay ceremonially pure. I just don't understand how Dr. Roi can turn that into a prayerful Christian action.
Doctor refuses treatment of same-sex couple’s baby
“The first thing Dr. Karam said was ‘I’ll be your doctor, I’ll be seeing you today because Dr. Roi decided this morning that she prayed on it and she won’t be able to care for Bay,” Jami said.
Even if you look past christian ethics, this refusal is a breach of medical ethics.
+Matthew Bannock I'd certainly think so.
Most of those who call themselves Christians are going to have very awkward afterlives. Imagine sitting at the righthand of the person you have misrepresented your whole life. That sounds a lot like hell to me.
The medical ethics part was my first thought, however I don't think it is because she provided a substitute and it's not a medical emergency.
That all being said, it's just plain crappy to do.
+Josh Mannon As a Christian who tries to do my best, I expect a very awkward afterlife. At least for an appropriate interval.
+Brian Coram She did find someone to fill in. Of course, if everyone in the practice had felt the same way … what, would they have been met by an apologetic receptionist?
And if they were in a rural community where there's only one pediatrician within an hour drive … what then?
Then it's unethical as well as crappy. For the record, I full agree with you on this +Dave Hill, what a stupid pointless thing to do and/or say. Can't develop a relationship because someone is gay? poppycock.
+Brian Coram The idea that one must develop some sort of deep interpersonal relationship in order to provide decent health care (with a parent for a child) seems fairly goofy. Developing a civil relationship (as well as one based on caritas) doesn't require some warping of one's personal values, any more than the Samaritan was forced to convert in order to care for the Jew on the road to Jerusalem.
Precisely. Which is why she is a crappy doctor. Someone should ask her if she has any atheist patients….
+Brian Coram Yes, does she do a background check on each of her
patientspatents' parents, making sure the are not leading some equally immoral life so that she can remain ritually pure?Haha! It's a sad issue for sure. And completely ridiculous. Can't say that enough.