Speak Out!

I approach this question from two vantage points. First, seems to me there are too many laws on the books already that many citizens favor that attempt to legislate personal, private behavior. I believe it's impossible to legislate this area, and I use the impact of civil rights legislation backlash as an example of the effects of such an approach to social policy. I believe Clinton's round table discussions on race and Obama's candidacy and speech on race in America are leaps in the right direction.

My second thought is that a favored physician probably would serve patients best if their personal, private choices and biases were kept out of the professional relationship. I for one will not permit a health care professional near my life if they find it necessary to interject their choices and views into the calculus of my medical care. I realize as someone who grew up in the home of a doctor that my view here is both informed and biased re the enormous power the physician wields thru both word and deed.

Further, it is not always possible to seek another doctor and there are times when the weight of the law will be the only factor influencing whether certain patients receive treatment rather than judgment or rejection of their human right to free agency. Given that fact and others I may not have enough knowledge to consider, it seems to me that the dreaded legislation of this issue, however abhorrent to me, is probably the only way to see just and even-handed treatment of patient concerns.