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Physicians, Not Conscripts — Conscientious Objection in Health Care

List of authors.
  • Ronit Y. Stahl, Ph.D.,
  • and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D.

Conscientious objection laws give health care professionals the legal right to refuse, on the basis of personal beliefs, to perform certain procedures or care for particular patients. The authors argue that professional societies should declare conscientious objection unethical.

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Funding and Disclosures

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.

This article was updated on April 6, 2017, at NEJM.org.

We thank Steven Joffe, Chavi Kahn, Matthew McCoy, Franklin Miller, Jonathan Moreno, Dominic Sisti, Dennis Thompson, and Jacqueline Antonovich for their helpful comments and criticisms.

Author Affiliations

From the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

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