tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9725220.post5911871659991043440..comments2023-11-05T05:39:14.998-05:00Comments on Going to the Mat: Political Gaff of the WeekAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352443552682708733noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9725220.post-69459972730885725772010-01-18T09:28:57.424-05:002010-01-18T09:28:57.424-05:00I think we are talking apples and oranges here. M...I think we are talking apples and oranges here. My mother (who grew up in a devout Catholic Family) had a simple message for the Pope when it came to contraception, "Your Holiness, I won't take contraception if you will help me raise my children." That 95% of Catholic women use contraception is not the issue here.<br /><br />If a health care worker refuses on religious grounds to not provide a specific treatment in an emergency room setting, it is not that the patient is not going to get care, they just won't get it from that person. As far as I know there are not too many Jehovah's Witnesses working in an emergency room (Jehovah's Witnesses object to blood transfusions), nor am I aware of too many contraceptives being dispenses in an emergency room.<br /><br />The problem is one of perception for Coakley. In a state with as many Catholics in it as Massachusets, saying that Catholics shouldn't do any job, particularly medicine, because of their faith is a bad move. <br /><br />People, including my Catholic mother who is also a Registered Nurse, who are devoutly religious may find many, many other health care fields to work in where conflicts are unlikely to arise. For example, my mother is a pediatric, neo-natal and maternity ward nurse. <br /><br />There is also the possibility that devoutly religious people will see their profession in an emergency room to not only be a persona choice, but a calling by God. Are we to deny both a personal choice and a divine calling simply because they may refuse to provide one type of treatment?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01352443552682708733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9725220.post-74592078925228046892010-01-15T11:52:42.834-05:002010-01-15T11:52:42.834-05:00Almost 95% of Catholic women will use some form of...Almost 95% of Catholic women will use some form of birth control in their lives. While the hierarchy may claim that Catholic women shouldn't use contraception, their followers don't agree.<br /><br />Coakley has a point that gets to the heart of patients' rights and religiously delivered medicine: if scientific medical services aren't your thing, maybe for the sake of a woman's rights you shouldn't be in an emergency room where rape victims need to be informed of all of their rights, not just those that you as a Catholic have. <br /><br />Religious discrimination of those in vulnerable need has no place in an emergency room - or in delivery of health care.<br /><br />How is discrimination against a patient ever acceptable? Whose conscience matters? Consumer rights are claimed in so many other industries - the food we eat, the toys we buy - but in health care it's still legal to not be given the services you need, even after you've been victimized.Ann Neumannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13690469764844904030noreply@blogger.com