Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Obedience

Obedience

According to obedience research, we may harm others under the forceful pressures of an authority figure (Milgram, 1974). How about if the inappropriate orders were delivered with less force? The increasing interdependence between nurses and physicians compelled Hofling and his colleagues to explore nurses’ reactions to a potentially harmful medical request made by the perceived authority figure, the doctor (Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves, & Pierce, 1966). In this situation, obedience...

Ethical Issues

Ethical Issues

Nurses are essential in patient care, upholding the ethical principles of their profession and effectively navigating ethical dilemmas. Neglecting ethical issues can lead to inadequate patient care, compromised therapeutic relationships, and moral distress among healthcare workers.
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:

Ethics and Bioethics

Ethics and Bioethics

Ethics is a philosophical study of moral actions. Ethics attempts to determine what is valuable for individuals and society. It examines the rational justification of moral judgments and analyzes what is morally just, fair, and right. Bioethics is a sub-discipline of applied ethics that analyzes the philosophical, social, and legal issues in life sciences and medicine. Ethical theories serve as a foundation for decision-making and represent the viewpoints from which people seek direction. They...

Ethical Dilemmas I

Ethical Dilemmas I

Ethical dilemmas in nursing are of utmost importance, as they often arise from the tension between adhering to core ethical principles and the practical realities of healthcare delivery. These dilemmas require nurses to navigate complex situations where competing ethical considerations pull them in different directions.
Let us explore some examples to understand the potentially complex moral decisions nurses face.
Take the case of caring for minors, particularly in areas related to reproductive...

Ethical Dilemmas II

Ethical Dilemmas II

Resolving an ethical dilemma in healthcare involves a systematic approach that considers every aspect of the issue, respecting both the patient's needs and values and the healthcare professional's ethical obligations. Here are potential steps to resolve an ethical dilemma:

Nursing Ethical Principles II

Nursing Ethical Principles II

Ethical principles are essential in guiding nurses to fulfill their responsibilities, focusing on the quality of nursing care and decision-making. These principles, including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and fidelity, shape the ethical framework within healthcare settings.
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's cancer...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Commentary: Special Issue on Conscientious Objection.

HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues·2021

Same author

Making Medical Treatment Decisions for Unrepresented Patients in the ICU. An Official American Thoracic Society/American Geriatrics Society Policy Statement.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine·2020

Same author

Preventing conscientious objection in medicine from running amok: a defense of reasonable accommodation.

Theoretical medicine and bioethics·2019

Same author

Conscientious Objection, Moral Integrity, and Professional Obligations.

Perspectives in biology and medicine·2019

Same author

Justifying Conscience Clauses.

The Hastings Center report·2018

Same author

Robots as Imagined in the Television Series Humans.

Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees·2018

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 2, 2026

E-Patient Counseling Trial (E-PACO): Computer Based Education versus Nurse Counseling for Patients to Prepare for Colonoscopy

E-Patient Counseling Trial (E-PACO): Computer Based Education versus Nurse Counseling for Patients to Prepare for Colonoscopy

Published on: August 1, 2019

Is conscientious objection incompatible with a physician's professional obligations?

Mark R Wicclair¹

¹Department of Philosophy, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6312, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6312, USA. wicclair@pitt.edu

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

|August 30, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Physicians’ right to conscientious objection is explored. This study argues that ethical and religious objections do not conflict with professional duties, challenging the idea that physicians must abandon their profession if they object to certain medical services.

More Related Videos

Subcostal Specimen Removal in Completely Portal Robotic Lobectomy

Subcostal Specimen Removal in Completely Portal Robotic Lobectomy

Published on: April 19, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 2, 2026

E-Patient Counseling Trial (E-PACO): Computer Based Education versus Nurse Counseling for Patients to Prepare for Colonoscopy

E-Patient Counseling Trial (E-PACO): Computer Based Education versus Nurse Counseling for Patients to Prepare for Colonoscopy

Published on: August 1, 2019

Subcostal Specimen Removal in Completely Portal Robotic Lobectomy

Subcostal Specimen Removal in Completely Portal Robotic Lobectomy

Published on: April 19, 2024

Area of Science:

Medical Ethics
Professional Responsibility
Philosophy of Medicine

Background:

Physicians sometimes refuse medical services due to ethical or religious beliefs.
A common assertion is that such objections necessitate leaving the medical profession.
This perspective questions the compatibility of conscientious objection with professional obligations.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically examine the 'incompatibility thesis'—the assumption that conscientious objection conflicts with physicians' professional duties.
To explore various philosophical and ethical frameworks defining physicians' professional obligations.

Main Methods:

Analysis of general ethical theories: consequentialism, contractarianism, rights-based theories.
Examination of internal morality concepts: essentialist and non-essentialist views.
Review of reciprocal justice, social contract theory, and the concept of promising in medicine.

Main Results:

The study found that established accounts of physicians' professional obligations do not unequivocally support the incompatibility thesis.
None of the explored ethical frameworks definitively conclude that conscientious objection violates professional duties.

Conclusions:

Conscientious objection by physicians is not inherently incompatible with their professional obligations.
The assertion that physicians must choose another profession due to ethical or religious objections is not supported by prevailing ethical theories.