pro life to work in ER OR OB

I believe a nurse has an obligation first to the patient. We can believe what we want, but any nurse who brings their religion/upbringing/beliefs/whatever into the hospital knowing it'll affect their ability to give care is a nurse who isn't putting the patient first. At the risk of being flamed for this, are you sure nursing is right for you?

Even in a religious-based hospital, this issue WILL come up. Even Catholic patients have fetuses that sometimes die in utero; do these woman deserve to carry the corpse inside them the full 9 months? Is it your right to force the grieving mother to carry a dead fetus to term? ... even when it's against doctor orders? Abortion is not a black-and-white issue.

While I have a great deal of respect for anyone who stands up for their beliefs, their right to a belief ends at the boundary to another person. In your example of abortion, what you're saying is you'll let a mother die before you'll help her get lifesaving care... and if she is dead, the fetus may not be survive on its own. As someone who spent my childhood in Catholic school, I don't believe that's right. And, as someone in the Nursing field, I don't feel it's professional to pick and choose what treatments you'll give the patient, despite the patient or doctor's wishes.

Let me try an analogy: what if there is a nurse who believes let's say it's wrong for elderly to suffer. So she quietly refuses to give medication to elderly [resulting in their death], despite doctor or patient orders, because she believes it's "God's will". How is one situation right and the other wrong?

If that's too extreme of an example, maybe an analogy is a Catholic who believe birth control is wrong (as this was the Vatican's stance for ages). Does that nurse have a right to not give patients birth control pills the doctor ordered? It's basically the same thing. "Birth control pills don't kill babies" might be an answer.... however, the Catholic stance is usually "birth begins at conception" and if The Pill helps to prevent implantation, it's taking a "life" just the same. Will you be comfortable helping patients with The Pill? What if you know one version of the pill can be taken in a higher dose (Plan-B) as emergency contraception, to reject the fertilized egg.... will you be still be comfortable in situations where your patient is discussing or needing hormone-based contraception? I hope you will reconsider.

I am not attacking you for your beliefs. Nurses need to leave their beliefs outside of the hospital doors. This is like having a Jehovahs Witness nurse refusing to give any patient a blood transfusion for any reason, even if the patient is dying.

Speaking from a Catholic upbringing, the Church also tells us it's God's place to judge, not ours. If God condemns the woman who has a hydroencephalic dying fetus terminated now rather than after going through labor for it to die a slow painful death, that is between her and God.


Have you considered working in a different field where the conflict won't come up? For example, geriatrics is needs nurses right now. You face a difficult conflict to resolve. Kudos to you for thinking about this important topic now, before entering the workplace. Good luck!

I have been pro-life for 53 years and it has never interfered with my job. I make sure that I'm not working in OR where abortions take place. I worked Mother/Baby and L&D for years and never had to participate in any abortion. I have cared for many women post-abortion. One in particular, was carrying a handicapped child. She & her DH decided they didn't want to raise a child with disablities, so they had a 3rd trimester abortion.I have a severely handicapped son. I didn't like it, but I kept my feelings to myself and continued to care for her. After it was over, she cried and cried. She was so sad. I really felt bad for her and I sat with her and let her talk for a very long time, until she fell asleep. I would never, ever let a patient know that I oppose her beliefs. Every patient deserves dignity, even if I think they're making a huge abominable mistake. It's not my call.

Wow so you only believe in calendar method?!

Before I comment on the subject at hand I want to vent . After reading this thread I am seeing a pattern that is becoming prevalent in the forums : Allnurses has become very popular with posters who have grand education and employment goals but in some cases have not even started nursing school. While I applaud and encourage everyone who wants to climb the ladder , lets not forget the road is long and perhaps your time would be put to greater use studying a book instead of making patient care decisions based on your beliefs instead of sound nursing judgment. We have the original poster who states she is a teacher.
JayMar23 -I don't know where you teach but your spelling is horrid and your sentences lack syntax and grammar .
"I am currently in education, I teach students right now who say terrible things to eachother, who have beat up other kids, have done things i disagree with, but when they need help with their scoolwork i help them,,, im not contributing to these things that i disagree with and i do have the chance to help thm make good decisions in the future..."
Then we have Julz034 , who wants to share her views with children in need of psychiatric consultation . A very noble profession and you have my best wishes.I know you are eager to get that MSN and I am sure that the next 10 years of school will be money well spent. Watch out for those pesky student loans! They can really add up.

I would like to share this recent study that was written after research and not based on personal belief

In the U.S.: Some US states are passing laws requiring parental consent before teenage women under the age of 18 can have an abortion; this has resulted in a significant rise of later abortions among young women, causing greater risk of complications. Some teens, fearing their parents' reactions, have sought illegal abortions; deaths have occurred.

A 2004 study by the Fuller Theological Seminary -- a leading Evangelical Christian divinity school -- showed that a decade long decline in abortion rates in the U.S. during President Clinton's administration has reversed. Glen Stassen, the Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics found that, under President Bush, rising unemployment and soaring healthcare costs have increased the abortion rate. He noted that "economic policy and abortion are not separate issues. They form one moral imperative." Stassen analyzed data from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Guttmacher Institute, and annual reports by individual state governments. He found that abortion rates declined 17.4% during the 1990s and reached a 24-year low when President Bush took office. "We Hold These Truths" reported that "Many expected that downward trend to continue under the conservative president, but Stassen found the opposite: 52,000 more abortions occurred in 2002 than would have been expected under the pre-2000 conditions, and abortion has risen significantly in those states reporting multi-year abortion statistics."

you use bith control but you wouldn't feel comfortable giving it to someone else? Maybe you should finish your degree in music and concentrate on that. Not to be disrespectful but you sound confused what what your beliefs actually are.

huh, if a certain nurse refuse to give blood transfusion to the patient than this nurse might be guilty of an act of negligence or malpractice...

Where I work in the OR we don't allow nurses to refuse caring for patients having terminations. If you decide to work in the OR then you have chosen the responsibility in providing non judgemental care for patients. If you want to be an anaesthetic nurse there is no way they would allow you to refuse to assist in blood transfusions because on night shift in trauma this could lead to causing harm to the patient.

I couldn't agree with you more. We're all entitled to our personal beliefs. But in nursing the patient's needs come before any personal values and beliefs you may have. If you can't deal with the possibility of caring for patients undergoing terminations then you might want to think long and hard about nursing as a career or what area of nursing you may want to get into.

I'd avoid OB emergency rooms or ORs in a hospital that does primarily woman's care. In a regular OR, you may see D&Cs here and there. If you can find work on a specialty team in the OR, that may work.

I have taken care of a patient that needed a procedure after she had undergone an abortion several weeks prior. I don't think I could actively participate in one though(elective ones). I try to avoid GYN at all costs though-not my cup of tea.