Rachael Wong is a lawyer from Auckland who is currently working as a legal consultant with the Law Reform Commission in Samoa. She has recently completed a Master of Bioethics and Health Law for which she wrote her dissertation on freedom of conscience in health care. She maintains that a health professional’s exercise of conscience is inseparable from their delivery of health care. Writing for First Things, Wesley J. Smith …Read More
Tag Archives: doctor-patient relationship
Doctors Say No to Assisted Suicide
The NZHPA strongly encourages all New Zealand doctors to sign the Open Letter published by the Care Alliance opposing medical involvement in euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Care Alliance’s press release and Open Letter are re-published below: Wednesday, 9 December 2015, 3:47 pm Press Release: Care Alliance Doctors say no to assisted suicide New Zealand doctors are being invited to add their name to an Open Letter rejecting medical involvement …Read More
The Right to Freedom of Conscience
By Neil Vaney Introduction A recent post from Terry Bellamak, new president of the Abortion Law Rights Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ), questions why health professionals such as doctors and nurses should be legally able to use the claim of freedom of conscience in refusing to provide contraceptive or abortion advice or services. (http://wp.me/x1XY6w-z1, 14 Sep 2015). Bellamak likens this to the case of Kim Davis, county clerk of Rowan …Read More
Dutch Euthanasia Rate Continues to Rise
According to the 2014 Annual Report by the Netherlands’ regional euthanasia review committees, there were 5,306 reported cases of assisted dying in 2014, a 10% rise on the previous year, and double those reported in 2009 (2636). A spokesman for the review committees said that the increase may be due to a growing social acceptance of euthanasia. On this shift in public opinion, Professor Theo Boer – a member of …Read More