Dr. George Stiller spent months learning, preparing, and practicing gender reassignment operations in order to be able to preform them for his hospital. After asking for permission from the board, one of his colleagues found out, and sent an email opposing the surgery to Stiller's coworkers and other hospital employees. The email drew lots of attention to the hospital and Dr. Stiller's proposed surgery offer, including hundreds of letters and social media posts from citizens who both supported and opposed offering the surgery.
The doctor and the citizens who opposed the surgery stated that the patients who wanted the surgery simply had a body dysmorphic disorder, and the hospital should not reinforce it. Months after first asking for authorization for the surgery, the hospital's administration decided that support outweighed opposition, and the surgery was authorized.
Do hospitals have the right to refuse implementing a procedure if it does not appeal to their values? What part does the First Amendment play in this decision? Should the hospital have implemented the procedure?
9 comments:
I think the right to refuse a procedure should depend on whether the hospital is public or private. If the hospital is public, or owned by the government, it should not be able to turn anyone away or prevent any procedures. However, if the hospital is privately owned, it should be able to implement and remove procedures and patients to correspond with their own values. The Pullman Regional Hospital, which is public, should therefore authorize any procedures and surgeries needed by the public.
Hospitals have the First Amendment right to handle their own cooperation how they want to. It is their right to say yes or no to what happens in their hospital, whether it is a religious based reason or something else. Although the doctor who pushed for the surgery felt the need to do it, I do not think he has the First Amendment right to make it happen. Since he is under the cooperation that does not want the transgender surgery, he lawfully agrees with the hospital.
I am biased for I believe this is a personal decision similar to abortion where the person who wishes to get the procedure should be the only one deciding whether or not it can happen. However, I do agree that based on past court cases dealing with religious values, a private hospital should have the power to allow or disallow the surgeries but public hospitals should never be allowed to prevent a person who identifies differently from their physical features the ability to align the way they feel with the way they look. I hope in the near future private hospitals will become more accepting of change and differences and allow these procedures to occur.
I also believe that the choice to refuse to implement a procedure depends on if the hospital is public or private. A private hospital has the choice to run its procedures in any way it wants, thus allowing it to refuse a procedure if it does not align with the hospital's values. However, a public hospital does not have that freedom. Therefore, if the hospital was a public institution, it should have implemented the procedure. If it was a private institution whose values did not align with what the patient wanted, they had the right to refuse to implement the procedure.
I agree with previous commenters that implementing a procedure depends on if the hospital is public or private. I think that the First Amendment's relation to this issue lies in the Establishment Clause, which prevents Congress from making laws respecting an establishment of religion, because the main reason Story opposed the implementation of this procedure was because it went against his religion. By the same standard as the Establishment Clause, I think that religious beliefs should not be intertwined with the procedures of a hospital, and should instead stay separate. Ultimately, I personally think that any hospital should implement this procedure, but it is up to the decision of the hospital if it is a private hospital.
All public hospitals, which are funded by the taxpayers, are required by The Emergency Medical and Treatment Labor Act (EMTLA) to provide care for patients in an emergency. However, elective or cosmetic procedures are left up to the discretion of the hospital. Thus, hospitals do have a right to deny the surgery of the patient. The issue of the surgery is more of a morality issue, or a disagreement in point of views. Additionally, discrimination from medical facilities and physicians against patients on the basis of race, religion, or national is prohibited under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Furthermore, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits sex discrimination in health care services and facilities.Therefore, unless there is discrimination against the patient, a hospital can deny the procedures.
I believe that as a public hospital, they should not be able to refuse implementing a procedure even if it doesn’t align with some of the doctors’ personal values. Stiller aimed to bring gender reassignment operations to this hospital located in a small town as many of these operations are only available in larger cities. I think this was a positive action since it allows for greater accessibility to those who seek the operation. It is definitely a step in the opposite direction to refuse this practice in a public hospital and I don’t believe that certain doctors’ values should be able to interfere with what the patient and public seeks.
I also do not agree that a hospital or anyone on the medical staff should be allowed to deny someone this type of procedure regardless of their personal beliefs. The time of people being discriminated against needs to come to an end. I believe that this is a step in the right direction because finally there are minorities finding some amount of justice.
I agree with some of the other comments, if a hospital is private then they do have the right to implement any rule they want to. If it is owned by the government then they can not take it away. I think the choice lies within the person who wants the surgery, after all it's their choice. Many people get plastic surgeries on their face or body because they want to, so being able to change your genders should be allowed as well.
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