Doctors should not be allowed to deny care based on their personal beliefs
ARCC has provided feedback to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, on their draft Human Rights in the Provision of Health Services policy. This policy outlines doctors’ duties to be anti-discriminatory, and tries to clarify the CPSO requirement for doctors to make an “effective referral” if they have a moral objection to providing a service. Most care denials occur for reproductive health care, medical assistance in dying, and gender-affirming care. We argue that such denials are intrinsically discriminatory and violate this very policy.
We asked the CPSO to seriously consider our position that physicians’ denial of healthcare based on their personal beliefs is unethical and unworkable, and that the CPSO should move towards strongly discouraging this practice and eventually disallowing it. In the meantime, we asked the CPSO to implement monitoring and enforcement measures to hold care deniers to account and ensure they at least provide “effective referrals”.
