Medical students want right not to treat

Nearly half of those asked (45 per cent) believed in the right of doctors to conscientiously object but 40 per cent disagreed and 14 per cent were unsure.

The survey, published in the Journal for Medical Ethics, found Muslim students were the most likely to support the right to refuse to treat a patient who wanted an abortion, contraceptive services, or who was drunk or on drugs, or who required an intimate examination and was of the opposite sex.

Three out of four Muslim students (76 per cent) polled supported the right to object, as did over half of Jewish and Protestant students. Support was lower among Catholics (46 per cent) and Hindus (34 per cent).

The survey contacted 1437 medical students at medical schools in Leeds, London, and Cardiff, and asked them to complete an anonymous questionnaire to canvass their views on conscientious objection.

Just over half – 733 – responded, one in three of whom was male. Nearly a third (30 per cent) said they had no faith and just over 17 per cent said they were Prostestant.

Atheists and Catholics made up similar proportions – around one in 10 (just under 12 per cent). The remainder were made up Muslims (9 per cent), Hindus (5 per cent), Sikhs, Buddhists, or Jews (just over 1 per cent) while 11.5 per cent classed themselves as ‘other’.

One in five conscientious objections were on religious grounds; almost half were on non-religious grounds, and around one in three were a mixture of both.

Guidance from the General Medical Council says doctors must not discriminate against patients by allowing personal views to affect their professional relationship or treatment.

Report author Dr Sophie Strickland said: “Once qualified as doctors, if all these respondents acted on their conscience and refused to perform certain procedures, it may become impossible for conscientious objectors to be accommodated in medicine.”