http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23546737

Theor Med Bioeth. 2013 Apr 2. [Epub ahead of print]

The uneasy (and changing) relationship of health care and religion in our legal system.

Vischer RK.

Source

University of St. Thomas School of Law, 1000 LaSalle Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55403, USA, rkvischer@stthomas.edu.

Abstract

This article provides a brief introduction to the interplay between law and religion in the health care context. First, I address the extent to which the commitments of a faith tradition may be written into laws that bind all citizens, including those who do not share those commitments. Second, I discuss the law's accommodation of the faith commitments of individual health care providers-hardly a static inquiry, as the degree of accommodation is increasingly contested. Third, I expand the discussion to include institutional health care providers, arguing that the legal system's resistance to accommodating the morally distinct identities of institutional providers reflects a short-sighted view of the liberty of conscience. Finally, I offer some tentative thoughts about why these dynamics become even more complicated in the context of Islamic health care providers.