About this GP

[slightlyconfused85]

Now before I start I generally think Gps are amazing people, I'm not dissing the profession. Today, however, I booked an appointment to get the contraceptive pill after the birth of my 2nd child. I was given an appointment with a locum who explained my options to me, then said he didn't prescribe contraception for ethical reasons. I then had to wait 45 minutes for another gp to be able to fit me in to prescribe this for me. Aibu to think that if the gp surgery is going to have locums that won't do this then they could have let me know on the phone when I booked? I know the receptionist didn't know what I wanted but they could say if it's an appointment to discuss contraception then say and we will find a different GP. Had loads of time wasted today and feeling (probably irrationally) irritable about it!

Aargh, unethical NOT to grant a woman agency

It's also pretty fucking unethical to waste additional NHS appointments when the system is so underfunded and over worked.

I'd rather we stopped calling religion "ethics".

Spot on Pico2. It's bloody stupid that in the 21st century a doctor's fairytale beliefs actually impact on the health and well being of their patients. Why the hell become a GP if you won't do half the stuff described in the job description because you believe in the latest interpretation of some book that was written 2000 years ago, (oh and then rewritten, and rewritten and rewritten....)! They must be just completely arrogant!

It's like a vegetarian decideing to become a butcher and then telling customers "Oh I'm sorry I can't serve you this meat on ethical grounds".

Good point about the word "ethical". It implies that asking for contraception is ethically questionable. FGS.

morally superior willy-waving

What about
morally superior dick swinging -- (somehow more derogatory to me)

Ten said it better than I ever could. Seriously get the fuck over your ridiculous preciousness and just prescribe the legally allowed and appropriate medication because that is what the pill is: medication. And if you are a doctor who only prescribes some medicine and refuse to prescribe others for non-medical reasons you have no business practicing.

Next time bring your newborn with you and let the baby scream in the doctor's face as long and as loud as you like. What's the matter, doc?? Thought you liked babies and are pro-life? Bet these pricks never looked after a baby for a day in their entire lives...

"Why the hell become a GP if you won't do half the stuff described in the job description because you believe in the latest interpretation of some book that was written 2000 years ago, (oh and then rewritten, and rewritten and rewritten....)!"

Providing contraception is a pretty small part of the job, especially for a male GP as many female patients will self select to see a female GP so they just don't enough of it.

(And the Bible was written over a very lengthy period and hasn't been "rewritten".)

As for whether religion has anything to do with it, it doesn't really matter. In this issue, it comes down to when you believe life begins and if that matters.

If you believe that life begins at conception and that ending that life is wrong, then certain forms of contraception are contraindicated.

Just as with assisted dying, there will be people of all and no religious persuasion who hold all sorts of views on this.

If assisted dying becomes legal, should all doctors have to take part in it, even those who believe that assisted dying is ethically dangerous and killing patients?

If I saw a GP who refused to prescribe me contraception, but then in the same appointment did prescribe eg Diclofenac (which can increase the risk of miscarriage) would / should this. be unethical too?

The rewritten was in reference to religions taking little snippets of the bible or koran or whatever and slapping their own interpretation on it. And yes if assisted dying became legal then all doctors should have to take part in it, if they object "ethically" then there are lots of other jobs they can do.

I'm fairly sure that if we ever see widespread and acceptable assisted-dying there approval will need to be sought by ethics-boards, rather than individual doctors. So one persons morality/religion/personal beliefs won't have an impact.

Unless that person has taken a job in an assisted-dying centre and sits there refusing to work.

(Delete random "there". I am incapable of coherent typing, apparently)

"He talked to me about it, ie explained that often women have the progesterone only pill for x reason. Then he told me he wouldn't prescribe it for ethical reasons."

Ah. So did he actually say he wouldn't prescribe contraception, or that he didn't prescribe that particular type of contraception - the progesterone only pill?

Progesterone only pills and coils, it can be argued, are not contraceptives, in that they do not prevent conception, but the implantation of a fertilised egg. Someone who does not agree with abortion and who thinks that human life starts at conception would therefore not be comfortable with those methods of birth control.

Thirty years ago I was very poorly and needed a hysterectomy a sap. The gynaecologist I was referred to was a staunch RC (unbeknown to me obviously) and basically lectured me on why (I was bleeding heavily for 21 days out of 24 and badly anaemic), did my DH give consent and that women should get on and get used to it!
The fact that I couldn't leave the house for a week, had no quality of life and had two young children didn't come into it.
He was so horrible I left the clinic in tears, my parents paid for a private consultation elsewhere where I was blue-lighted into hospital and operated on immediately (I had a massive haemorrhage as I was being examined)
I've never forgiven that first consultant, my DCs came within a couple of hours of being motherless.

He said he didn't prescribe contraception for ethical reasons and he would have to talk to a colleague.

YANBU OP. If the doctor doesn't prescribe certain meds/ treatments for their own personal reasons then you should be made aware when booking the appointment. My GP receptionists always ask what the appointment you're booking is for which feels intrusive, but I suppose avoids this situation.

RedCurly calling people's religious beliefs a fairytale doesn't make you sound clever, it just outs you as a bigot.

I think his colleagues are probably thoroughly sick of doing his job for him, and that's why you ended up waiting.

NC for this.Slightly different, but on the same vein. I went to see a locum at my practice where I had to disclose my HIV status (don't have it on my computer notes-need to know basis). I could see him visibly recoil at this information, then he started asking about how I became +. I was not happy and said that wasn't relevant to my visit. Finished visit, then had a thought, went back and said "excuse me can I see what information you put on during my visit?" He ummed and ahhed, but sure enough he had flagged it up. I was in tears, practice manager got the senior doctor. Locum was never seen again (got a written apology). But I was fuming-how dare he allow his morals, religious view, personal belief to affect how he treated a patient?

Add message | Report | Message poster slightlyconfused85 Tue 11-Aug-15 17:35:20
He looked very young, 23 or so

Really? And was working as a GP already.

What the very actual fuck us a 'Christian' GP practice?

Religion has no fucking place in medicine, and I'm gobsmacked that an NHS GP practice is permitted to declare itself 'Christian' and impose the doctors beliefs on the population in their catchment. What a clusterfuck.

Bit late back to the party as I had to go out, but:

spanisharmada, as other posters have pointed out, where do we draw the line? If everyone starts 'opting out' of providing the treatment they are paid by their employers to provide, then we eventually end up with a situation where someone from Kent has to go to Scotland to access the healthcare they are legally entitled to. No-one is suggesting banning people of certain religions from being a GP, but when you are acting in a professional capacity, (I say again) paid by your employer to provide a service, you have to check certain things at the door: pissy attitude, dislike of certain behaviours, and your own personal code of 'ethics'. If the patient is not asking you to break the law, and you are there to provide a service, it's not up to you to pick and choose which aspects of that service are ok with you.

You can follow any religion you choose, but you should not be allowed to inconvenience your patients by trotting out personal ethics, especially when they are based on sexist outdated beliefs. Should it be ok for doctors to not treat gay people, because their religion says so? Or women who don't cover their hair / bodies, because their cultural beliefs say so? I ask again, where do we draw the line?

You expect to get paid for doing your job, do your job. 100%, not just the parts you like.

I will add, I personally think circumcision is a bad thing, but I wouldn't for one second suggest a doctor didn't do it because of their 'ethics'. I wouldn't do it, which is why I'm not a doctor.

Whomnever, "flagged it up" how? That's fucking awful.

OP YADNBU. That's shocking. His ethical code can stop him from using contraception but he has no right to autocratically impose that on someone else. I'd be interested to know whether what he did was legal.

Can I suggest you contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission? I think they might be quite interested in this.

We once had a locum at A&E who refused to touch women on religious grounds! The Trust took the easy way out and never hired him again.

Easy way out? Logical way out.