Conscience protections: a recent example - *

According to a story reported in the New York Post yesterday (Monday, July 27, 2009), a nurse at Mount Sinai hospital was forced to assist in performing a late-term abortion despite making her religious convictions known.

The 35-year-old nurse, Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo, had been asked when she was hired in 2004 if she would be willing to participate in the performance of abortions. A devout Catholic, she said “no”, and put her beliefs into writing.

On May 24, 2009, she realized that she'd been assigned to assist in performing a late-term abortion. She pleaded with her supervisor to find a replacement, but was told that the woman had pre-eclampsia, that the patient could die without treatment, and that the nurse would be charged with insubordination and patient abandonment if she did not agree to participate.

These are serious charges to levy against a nurse. In the event of patient abandonment, a nurse's license may be suspended or revoked by the Board of Nursing. Feeling pressured, Cenzon-DeCarlo caved in. She later realized, however, that the patient was not receiving treatment typical for a pre-eclamptic emergency situation and that, according to the hospital's own records, the patient's condition was not deemed life-threatening.

Cenzon-DeCarlo filed a grievance with her nursing union and, a few days later, was confronted by two supervisors who told her that she must sign a statement agreeing to participate in abortions if she wants any more overtime shifts. She has refused to do so, and her overtime hours have been sharply reduced since that time. The hospital has declined to comment until a court decides whether to rule in favor of her action calling for the hospital to pay damages, restore her shifts and respect her objections to abortion.

So what do you think?

Have nursing supervisors at Mount Sinai overstepped their bounds? What about the actions of the nurse in this scenario? What would you have done?

Addendum - According to this article, "The right of federally funded health care providers to decline to participate in services to which they object, such as abortion, is affirmed by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) final rule notice published in the Federal Register on December 19, 2008. (See 73 FR 78071) The regulation is effective January 20, 2009."