The Arizona Senate has elevated extremist lawmaking to an art form. By a 20-9 margin, they have approved a measure which would do no less than legalize medical malpractice and give physicians permission to break the Hippocratic Oath. The bill's primary purpose is to provide immunity from malpractice suits to doctors who choose not to inform pregnant women of health risks -- including life-threatening conditions -- associated with the pregnancy.
Let's put this in proper perspective: The Arizona Senate thinks it's a good idea for doctors to allow women to die. This is a breathtakingly heinous concept: The Arizona Senate wants to give doctors permission to allow women to die, rather than inform them that their life is at risk! The Arizona Senate wants doctors to allow women TO DIE.
It's so shocking, so fantastically devoid of human compassion, so fanatically extremist that it's almost easier to turn away than to face the harsh reality: In America, in the 21st century, in the country that believes itself the moral compass by which other countries ought to be judged, we are actually having a discussion about throwing the Hippocratic Oath out the window! Dating to the 5th Century BCE, the Hippocratic Oath is accepted the world over as the standard by which physicians are to be judged. It affirms the obligation to treat patients when they need treatment, and never to withhold that which a patient needs.
There is also the issue of malpractice. If a doctor were to withold, for example, the fact that a patient had a potentially malignant tumor, and the patient died, there would be no question of guilt or innocence. There would only be a question of how many millions of dollars the family would get, and which Third World country the doctor would have to move to in order to practice medicine again. Yet, these Arizona men believe that a doctor who withholds the fact that a woman has an ectopic pregnancy should be immune to any claims of malpractice. Even if the woman dies.
The web of religious "logic" is mind boggling. Women should be denied access to contraception, and should be forced to carry any pregnancy to term, no matter how unwanted or how dangerous to the woman. Doctors should be allowed to let women die, even in cases where the pregnancy wasn't viable in the first place. Women should be deprived of the basic right to know that there is even a problem. When all the puzzle pieces are in place, it is so shockingly inhumane and devoid of empathy that one begins to suspect that she is being governed by a cadre of sociopaths.
In a sane world, each and every senator who voted for this bill would be impeached for any number of violations of their oath to the Constitution, as well as attempting to legalize human rights abuses. Let's not mince words: Permitting doctors to allow women to die is nothing less than a gross violation of basic human rights. It is a crime against humanity. These are reprehensible men who do not belong in public office. They cannot see through their own religious zeal with enough clarity to answer basic questions of life and death.
Perhaps the most galling thing about this bill is that it was pushed through during the same week as International Women's Day. It is nothing short of a slap in the face to women everywhere, a resounding call for a return to earlier times, when women were second class citizens, vehicles for men to pass on their titles, property, and wealth to male heirs. It is religious lunacy. It is patriarchy gone mad. It has no place in America.
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AZ Senate bill contradicts Hippocratic Oath, encourages mAZ Senate bill contradicts Hippocratic Oath, encourages malpractice
