Conscience Claims and Cost: Tribunals and the Asymmetry Debate

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This article refers to:

Unjustified Asymmetry: Positive Claims of Conscience and Heartbeat Bills

This article is referred to by:

Finding Our Balance in the Asymmetry Debate

Notes

1 In the Maryland statue, clinicians still maintain civil immunity for refusing to refer except for when such refusal leads to death or serious injury and is also “contrary to the standards of medical care.” MD HEALTH GEN § 20-214.

2 It is important to recognize that legislative and judicial intervention can create costs to third parties in relation to a negative claim, but these costs are generally not inherent to negative claims.

3 We use the word “costs” to represent a broad conception of potential burdens that may be borne by stakeholders. Beyond concerns about access to care, health outcomes, and finances, moral distress and dignitary harms are also types of cost that ought to be recognized.