Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33372203›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of medicine and philosophy2021

Conscientious Objection in Health Care: Pinning down the Reasonability View.

Doug McConnell

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of medicine and philosophy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Competing World Views, Professional Norms, and Conscience.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2025
    Article
  2. Bioethics: An International, Morally Diverse, and Often Political Endeavor.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2022
    Article
  3. Considerations of Conscience.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Doug McConnellUniversity of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Funding

Wellcome Trust 104848/Z/14/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Robert Card's "Reasonability View" is a significant contribution to the debate over the place of conscientious objection in health care. In his view, conscientious objections can only be accommodated if the grounds for the objection meet a reasonability standard. I identify inconsistencies in Card's description of the reasonability standard and argue that each version he specifies is unsatisfactory. The criteria for reasonability that Card sets out most frequently have no clear underpinning principle and are too permissive of immoral objections. Card has also claimed that petitioners must justify their positions with Rawlsian public reason. I argue that, although the resulting reasonability standard is principled, it is overly restrictive. I also show that a reasonability standard built on Rawls' more lenient conception of reasonableness would be overly permissive of objections at odds with professional healthcare standards. Finally, I argue for my favored solution, which bases the reasonability standard on minimal professional standards.

Indexed as

ConscienceRefusal to TreatDelivery of Health CareHumansMaleconscienceconscientious objectionhealth careprofessional standardspublic reasonreasonability

Identifiers

PMID33372203
PMCPMC7829616

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.