Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Working with Human Tissues for Translational Cancer Research
Published on: November 26, 2015
Which Legal Approaches Help Limit Harms to Patients From Clinicians' Conscience-Based Refusals?
Rachel Kogan, Katherine L Kraschel1, Claudia E Haupt2
1Lecturer in law and the executive director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut.
Abstract:
This article canvasses laws protecting clinicians' conscience and focuses on dilemmas that occur when a clinician refuses to perform a procedure consistent with the standard of care. In particular, the article focuses on patients' experience with a conscientiously objecting clinician at a secular institution, where patients are least likely to expect conscience-based care restrictions. After reviewing existing laws that protect clinicians' conscience, the article discusses limited legal remedies available to patients.
Related Concept Videos
Ethical Dilemmas II
Ethics and Bioethics
Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
Nursing Ethical Principles II
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...
Ethical Dilemmas I
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...
Obedience

