Complacency, Conscience, and Complications

Complacency--the silent killer.

Complacency in coronary care.

From modest beginnings in 1962 in Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Toronto, the coronary care unit has become at once an institution and a revolution in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. The CCU was synthesized from now well known innovations in resuscitation, monitoring, and in the electrical treatment of arrhythmias. Its early history was written by small units of three to four beds...

Conscience Wars: Complicity-Based Conscience Claims in Religion and Politics

Persons of faith are now seeking religious exemptions from laws concerning sex, reproduction, and marriage on the ground that the law makes the objector complicit in the assertedly sinful conduct of others. We term claims of this kind, which were at issue in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, complicity-based conscience claims. Complicity-based conscience claims differ in form and in social logic f...

'In good conscience': conscience-based exemptions and proper medical treatment.

Lack of clarity about the proper limits of conscientious refusal to participate in particular healthcare practices has given rise to fears that, in the absence of clear parameters, conscience-based exemptions may become increasingly widespread, leading to intolerable burdens on health professionals, patients, and institutions. Here, we identify three factors which clarify the proper scope of co...

Utilitarianism, Conscience and Animals