The Role of Conscience in the Practice of Medicine and the Rule of Law

Date: Nov. 8, 2022
Location: Roth Auditorium, Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, La Jolla, CA

The conference was presented by the UC San Diego Institute for Practical Ethics, in collaboration with University of San Diego School of Law’s Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics.

There is a long history of physicians claiming the right to not engage in certain medical procedures due to their conscience. The fall of Roe v. Wade and other policy changes have renewed attention on the possibility of physicians claiming the right to engage in certain medical procedures as a matter of conscience in the face of state and institutional restrictions.

Distinguished and interdisciplinary speakers from across North America engaged these questions of positive and negative conscience claims in the contemporary society.

The all-day conference included four sessions:

• “What is Conscience?” featuring Carolyn McLeod with comments by Steven Smith
• “The Impact of State and Federal Laws on Medical Practice” featuring Nadia Sawicki with comments by Sheila Mody
• “The Impact of Institutional Policies on Medical Practice” featuring speaker Elizabeth Sepper with comments by Mark Rothstein
• “Conscientious Refusal vs. Provision of Healthcare” featuring Dov Fox with comments by Samuel Rickless