Religious bigotry

thats sad

When you go to the ER, you get what you get. The patient was being stupid – which is his right. If he wants to refuse care or go elsewhere it couldn’t have been that big an emergency.

As for choosing a physician of a particular faith, race, or gender for a primary care doc, I see nothing wrong with that. It’s not how I operate, but different people have different comfort levels and they do not have to offer their reasons for choosing a physician.

I don’t know, this can really be debated on both sides. There was a case where a woman, claiming to be a Muslim, was forced to either wear a head scarf or she wouldn’t be seen by her doctor (she also claims he “preached” to her). Another case of a patient not realizing her doctor brought his Christian beliefs into the office, and was surprised when she couldn’t get a prescription for birth control (there are other stories about this happening at Christian hospitals, that apparently, weren’t well advertised as such, refusing the morning after pill, etc. although I think the clinics do try to make it more apparent?).

In the case of those doctors and clinics, some people are so happy they can go to a doctor who shares their values, others feel slightly victimized by the whole thing.

We’re criticizing a patient who used his bigotry/personal preference/perhaps some religious view, when we tend to provide more understanding when doctors fulfill their personal views. It was the ER, I don’t think anyone should go into the ER demanding to be catered for specifically, but I just think there are quite a few issues to this subject, where both sides are concerned.

Personally, I’d like my doctor to take religion out of the equation and inform me of all possible options, but that’s just me (and luckily enough, there are numerous doctors who do that).