This probably should go on the OB board, but the Michagan thread in this forum got me thinking about abortion. Aren't most abortions done in clinics or doctors offices? Or are nurses and doctors in general hospitals faced with the ehtical/religious delimena of taking care of those patients more frequently than I think. I'm now thinking they must be if they have to introduce a bill to legislature.
Is it more emergent abortions they see and they object to even that?
I could use a bit of enlightment here. How common is this moral delimena. (For me it's a no brainer, I don't work on an ob unit. Rarely, very rarely we'll get a post-fetal demise d&c so the mom won't have to spend the night with other new moms and babies.)
If you are unable to care for your patients, you may need to find another specialty.
I take care of people who make moral decisions that I do not agree with. I take of drunk drivers, rapists, murders, *******s, people who think prayer is an appropriate way to treat their easily curable child, etc.
You don't get to choose your patients, but you did agree to take care of those who come your way. I don't reject patients because they are of religions I don't agree with, the color of their skin, their mental issues, the fact that they have HIV/AIDS, the fact that they're in my ER because they were stabbed while they were trying to rape someone, etc.
We shouldn't allow ourselves to discriminate against our patients.
Whether you like it or not, abortion is legal. You have an obligation to care for those assigned to you.
Like it or not (for me) if the family wants their 102 year old mama to be a full code despite the fact that keeping her alive is cruel and I vehemently disagree morally with keeping people alive who should be allowed a dignified, peaceful death, I push the Epi and charge the paddles.
This is just my two cents, but your (or anyone's) belief in a mythological figure is not reason to refuse care to a patient in need. (Y'all can flame me for that if you feel the need to; I'm fire-proof.)
I don't want to flame you. You made a deliberately provocative statement about theists. You did this at the end of a post about how discrimination is wrong and you apparently don't see the cognitive dissonance. Kind of amusing, actually, but... I don't think you meant it to be.
I have to agree with Fribblet's post. If you are that against abortion you should probably work in a Catholic hospital that has the same beliefs. I personally left a Labor and Delivery job at a Catholic hospital because I was tired of seeing the same young teen patients (often 13 yrs old) return to have another baby a year later and not be "allowed" to discuss birth control options before they were discharged home. Now I work for a family planning clinic that offers abortion services. It is not always black and white issue. I find most women felt they made the right choice for their circumstances and do not feel guilt months or years later. I am pro-choice not pro-abortion. The goal is to also send pts home with birth control that they will use to prevent these patients from having to return for another abortion. One of the great things about being a nurse is you can choose where you want to work and still not compromise your beliefs.
I personally left a Labor and Delivery job at a Catholic hospital because I was tired of seeing the same young teen patients (often 13 yrs old) return to have another baby a year later and not be "allowed" to discuss birth control options before they were discharged home.
I gave birth at an very religious catholic hospital and all they were doing was trying to push birth control on me. Every time some one came into the room, it was "so did you decide on which birth control option you'd like to receive?" I hated it because I do not like what birth control does to my body, but they were so over bearing I just picked the shot so they would stop.
I work at a large urban hospital. Abortion on our L&D unit isn't common but not unheard of either. We do second trimester terminations for genetion reasons as well as terminations if the mother chooses due to pprom prior to viability. We also do terminations prior to viability when the mother is very sick. None of our nurses refuses to care for these patients.
I once worked in a big city medical center where elective second trimester abortions were performed. I worked in the NICU, where we received those infants who were born alive, and provided comfort care until they died. .
Specializes in Labor and Delivery, Newborn, Antepartum.
"I am a L&D RN who refused my assignment prior to take it report on an induction of a 19 weeks with twins with a SROM because of my moral and religious belief."
Although I can see why this would be upsetting and/or traumatizing, I'm not sure I understand your moral and religious conflict in this situation. 19 weeks is before viability and if the patient was SROMed, she would've already been in labor. If you meant that she was PPROMed (premature preterm rupture of membranes), which would mean she was not in labor, she would still be unable to carry the babies to term....
jmqphd
212 Posts
I don't want to flame you. You made a deliberately provocative statement about theists. You did this at the end of a post about how discrimination is wrong and you apparently don't see the cognitive dissonance. Kind of amusing, actually, but... I don't think you meant it to be.