Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine: A National Survey. Lawrence, R. E. & Curlin, F. A. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 84(9):1276--1282, September, 2009. ![Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine: A National Survey [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex Purpose To explore physicians’ beliefs about whether physicians sometimes have a professional obligation to provide medical services even if doing so goes against their conscience, and to examine associations between physicians’ opinions and their religious and ethical commitments. Method A survey was mailed in 2007 to a stratified random sample of 1,000 U.S. primary care physicians, selected from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile. Participants were classified into three groups according to agreement or disagreement with two statements: “A physician should never do what he or she believes is morally wrong, no matter what experts say,” and “Sometimes physicians have a professional ethical obligation to provide medical services even if they personally believe it would be morally wrong to do so.” Results The response rate was 51% (446/879 delivered questionnaires). Forty-two percent and 22% believed they are never and sometimes, respectively, obligated to do what they personally believe is wrong, and 36% agreed with both statements. Physicians who are more religious are more likely to believe that physicians are never obligated to do what they believe is wrong (58% and 31% of those with high and low intrinsic religiosity, respectively; multivariate odds ratio, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.2–7.2). Those with moral objections to any of three controversial practices were more likely to hold that physicians should never do what they believe is wrong. Conclusion A substantial minority of physicians do not believe there is ever a professional obligation to do something they personally believe is wrong.
@article{ lawrence_physicians_2009,
title = {Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine: A National Survey},
volume = {84},
issn = {1040-2446},
shorttitle = {Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine},
url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2859045/},
doi = {10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181b18dc5},
abstract = {Purpose
To explore physicians’ beliefs about whether physicians sometimes have a professional obligation to provide medical services even if doing so goes against their conscience, and to examine associations between physicians’ opinions and their religious and ethical commitments.
Method
A survey was mailed in 2007 to a stratified random sample of 1,000 U.S. primary care physicians, selected from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile. Participants were classified into three groups according to agreement or disagreement with two statements: “A physician should never do what he or she believes is morally wrong, no matter what experts say,” and “Sometimes physicians have a professional ethical obligation to provide medical services even if they personally believe it would be morally wrong to do so.”
Results
The response rate was 51% (446/879 delivered questionnaires). Forty-two percent and 22% believed they are never and sometimes, respectively, obligated to do what they personally believe is wrong, and 36% agreed with both statements. Physicians who are more religious are more likely to believe that physicians are never obligated to do what they believe is wrong (58% and 31% of those with high and low intrinsic religiosity, respectively; multivariate odds ratio, 2.9; 95% {CI}, 1.2–7.2). Those with moral objections to any of three controversial practices were more likely to hold that physicians should never do what they believe is wrong.
Conclusion
A substantial minority of physicians do not believe there is ever a professional obligation to do something they personally believe is wrong.},
number = {9},
urldate = {2014-04-06},
journal = {Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges},
author = {Lawrence, Ryan E. and Curlin, Farr A.},
month = {September},
year = {2009},
pmid = {19707071},
pmcid = {PMC2859045},
pages = {1276--1282},
file = {PubMed Central Full Text PDF:C\:\\Users\\jdodell\\AppData\\Roaming\\Mozilla\\Firefox\\Profiles\\gngr6308.default\\zotero\\storage\̋N65GNS6\Ławrence and Curlin - 2009 - Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine .pdf:application/pdf}
}
Downloads: 0
{"_id":"JEPmZDvo3foFwbv82","authorIDs":[],"author_short":["Lawrence, R.<nbsp>E.","Curlin, F.<nbsp>A."],"bibbaseid":"lawrence-curlin-physiciansbeliefsaboutconscienceinmedicineanationalsurvey-2009","bibdata":{"abstract":"Purpose To explore physicians’ beliefs about whether physicians sometimes have a professional obligation to provide medical services even if doing so goes against their conscience, and to examine associations between physicians’ opinions and their religious and ethical commitments. Method A survey was mailed in 2007 to a stratified random sample of 1,000 U.S. primary care physicians, selected from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile. Participants were classified into three groups according to agreement or disagreement with two statements: “A physician should never do what he or she believes is morally wrong, no matter what experts say,” and “Sometimes physicians have a professional ethical obligation to provide medical services even if they personally believe it would be morally wrong to do so.” Results The response rate was 51% (446/879 delivered questionnaires). Forty-two percent and 22% believed they are never and sometimes, respectively, obligated to do what they personally believe is wrong, and 36% agreed with both statements. Physicians who are more religious are more likely to believe that physicians are never obligated to do what they believe is wrong (58% and 31% of those with high and low intrinsic religiosity, respectively; multivariate odds ratio, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.2–7.2). Those with moral objections to any of three controversial practices were more likely to hold that physicians should never do what they believe is wrong. Conclusion A substantial minority of physicians do not believe there is ever a professional obligation to do something they personally believe is wrong.","author":["Lawrence, Ryan E.","Curlin, Farr A."],"author_short":["Lawrence, R.<nbsp>E.","Curlin, F.<nbsp>A."],"bibtex":"@article{ lawrence_physicians_2009,\n title = {Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine: A National Survey},\n volume = {84},\n issn = {1040-2446},\n shorttitle = {Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine},\n url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2859045/},\n doi = {10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181b18dc5},\n abstract = {Purpose\nTo explore physicians’ beliefs about whether physicians sometimes have a professional obligation to provide medical services even if doing so goes against their conscience, and to examine associations between physicians’ opinions and their religious and ethical commitments.\n\nMethod\nA survey was mailed in 2007 to a stratified random sample of 1,000 U.S. primary care physicians, selected from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile. Participants were classified into three groups according to agreement or disagreement with two statements: “A physician should never do what he or she believes is morally wrong, no matter what experts say,” and “Sometimes physicians have a professional ethical obligation to provide medical services even if they personally believe it would be morally wrong to do so.”\n\nResults\nThe response rate was 51% (446/879 delivered questionnaires). Forty-two percent and 22% believed they are never and sometimes, respectively, obligated to do what they personally believe is wrong, and 36% agreed with both statements. Physicians who are more religious are more likely to believe that physicians are never obligated to do what they believe is wrong (58% and 31% of those with high and low intrinsic religiosity, respectively; multivariate odds ratio, 2.9; 95% {CI}, 1.2–7.2). Those with moral objections to any of three controversial practices were more likely to hold that physicians should never do what they believe is wrong.\n\nConclusion\nA substantial minority of physicians do not believe there is ever a professional obligation to do something they personally believe is wrong.},\n number = {9},\n urldate = {2014-04-06},\n journal = {Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges},\n author = {Lawrence, Ryan E. and Curlin, Farr A.},\n month = {September},\n year = {2009},\n pmid = {19707071},\n pmcid = {PMC2859045},\n pages = {1276--1282},\n file = {PubMed Central Full Text PDF:C\\:\\\\Users\\\\jdodell\\\\AppData\\\\Roaming\\\\Mozilla\\\\Firefox\\\\Profiles\\\\gngr6308.default\\\\zotero\\\\storage\\̋N65GNS6\\Ławrence and Curlin - 2009 - Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine .pdf:application/pdf}\n}","bibtype":"article","doi":"10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181b18dc5","file":"PubMed Central Full Text PDF:C\\:\\\\Users\\\\jdodell\\\\AppData\\\\Roaming\\\\Mozilla\\\\Firefox\\\\Profiles\\\\gngr6308.default\\\\zotero\\\\storage\\̋N65GNS6\\Ławrence and Curlin - 2009 - Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine .pdf:application/pdf","id":"lawrence_physicians_2009","issn":"1040-2446","journal":"Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges","key":"lawrence_physicians_2009","month":"September","number":"9","pages":"1276--1282","pmcid":"PMC2859045","pmid":"19707071","shorttitle":"Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine","title":"Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine: A National Survey","type":"article","url":"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2859045/","urldate":"2014-04-06","volume":"84","year":"2009","bibbaseid":"lawrence-curlin-physiciansbeliefsaboutconscienceinmedicineanationalsurvey-2009","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2859045/"},"downloads":0,"html":""},"bibtype":"article","biburl":"https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/jdodell/Public%20Folder/colib.bib","creationDate":"2014-12-11T22:13:22.905Z","downloads":0,"keywords":[],"search_terms":["physicians","beliefs","conscience","medicine","national","survey","lawrence","curlin"],"title":"Physicians' Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine: A National Survey","year":2009,"dataSources":["jzatBN8frdsbSEMvG"]}