Personal Beliefs of Doctors and Patients: New Guidance
Personal Beliefs of Doctors and Patients: New Guidance
The GMC has recently issued further guidance to doctors when faced with either:
1.a patient who requests treatment which conflicts with the doctor’s personal beliefs; or
2.a patient who refuses treatment based on their personal beliefs.
The main focus of the guidance is to ensure that doctors provide the best possible care to a patient and do not allow any personal beliefs to interfere with the advice a patient is given.
Whilst a doctor is entitled to refuse to carry out a procedure or offer a certain treatment, they should ensure that the patient is fully informed of all the options available. The patient should also be told where they can get the treatment they are requesting.
Furthermore, a doctor should not refuse treatment that is needed following a procedure that the doctor did not agree with.
The guidance warns that serious or persistent failure by a doctor to follow the guidance will put their registration at risk.
Medical Claims Online, commented:
“This guidance is well needed as patients can find themselves in a distressing situation when a doctor refuses to offer certain treatment on the grounds of their personal beliefs. Whilst it is not desirable to force a doctor to offer treatment which conflicts with their beliefs, the GMC have taken a sensible approach to ensure that the information and options given to a patient does not suffer.”
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