US lesbian denied fertility treatment sues Catholic docs

Breitbart ^ | April 25, 2006

[NYer]

A woman whose doctors refused her infertility treatment because she is a lesbian has sued before California's Supreme Court, her attorney said.

"Our client's doctors' behavior goes against established medical ethics and violates California civil rights law," said Lambda Legal attorney Jennifer Pizer in a statement announcing the suit was filed on Monday.

"The doctors claim a right not to comply with California's civil rights law because they are fundamentalist Christians and they object to treating a lesbian patient the same way they treat other patients," the group said in a statement.

An appeals court overturned a trial court decision that Guadalupe Benitez was denied infertility treatment in violation of California law.

"Doctors are supposed to treat their patients, not make religious judgments about them," Benitez said in a statement.

"I trusted my doctors and then they humiliated my family and me by refusing to perform the insemination procedure after they'd been treating me and promising it to me for nearly a year," she said.

[pgyanke]

Kinda ironic, too, considering this Catholic doctor is, in a sense, playing God with fertility.

No, the doctor is choosing to NOT play God with fertility. Boy, are you backwards...

[rintense]

No I can't. Because the doctor is, in essence, violating his own religious beliefs by your own words- by making it impossible for ANY woman to produce a child. Their sexuality is irrelevant in your argument. By your own logic, the doctor is playing God with a heterosexual couple who, by the natural will of God, can not conceive a child.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I'll vaccinate you quick so as not to compromise your lesbianism.

LOL! No problem if they want to have a girlriend join in, either?

[rintense]

Yep, I'm backwards alright.

[MHGinTN]

Sounds a lot like a homosexual who came out of the closet, decided to get into the activism and now wants to be part of the secularization of the Catholic community by suing for something Catholics are forbidden to be a part of.

Degeneracy twists the mind into amazing gordian knots, that's why Paul said 'be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind! An amazing Christian woman was on Hannity's radio program yesterday: this young woman got into topless/bottomless dancing in a Florida city in order to have more spending money and be more independant from her parents; Christ came into her life and she manifests the transforming of her mind, without condemnation of the girls still trapped in that degneracy but unafraid to share her witness to His transforming Grace. Perhaps the lesbian female of this story should give The Grace of God in Christ a try before throwing her immortal spirit to further degeneracy and secularization ... if He cannot transform her, she will find that Evil is always waiting to suck her back down into degeneracy.

[Calpernia]

>>>Sounds a lot like a homosexual who came out of the closet, decided to get into the activism

bttt!

[xsmommy]

not at all, again, were it God's will for a heterosexual couple to have a child, they would be able to conceive. hey, infertility is a sad and painful thing. it has happened in my own family. but Catholics and other Christians, are entitled to their belief that it is GOD'S ROLE to create life, and not man's. to attempt to create life via artificial means IS PLAYING God's role. the hippocratic oath does not extend to elective procedures, the doctor should NOT be forced to compromise his religious beliefs. GOD creates life.

[xsmommy]

by making it impossible for ANY woman to produce a child

Only if the doctor is performing sterilization on otherwise fertile women.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

"What about the civil rights of the Doctors?"

Good point!

"....no law respecting an establishment of religion OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF..."

[Lucky Dog]

That doesn't mean I condone the homosexual act but I certainly don't condemn gays or lesbians for being the way they are... [emphasis added] and I don't believe that parents of gays or lesbians (one particular parent is a close friend and the other a relative of mine and both are conservatives) do either.

The issue is not about condemning anyone for being the way they are or about whether or not they or their parents had a choice in such. Rather the issue is about condemning someone for the way they behave. Behavior is a voluntary choice… (Otherwise, it is a psychosis and subject to psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.)

No one is a homosexual because of being the way they are. It is the fact that someone has acted on some internally felt desire that defines “being a homosexual.”

A man may have an internally felt desire to have violent intercourse with an unwilling woman. However, it is only if he actually does so that he becomes a rapist, i.e., in the absence of the act no one is a rapist. Similarly, if a supposed homosexual fails to act on his or her internally felt desire, then he or she does not qualify for the title, “homosexual,” either the male or female variety.

Any doctor would be within his or her rights to refuse to perform any purely elective, medical procedure on any particular patient. The doctor’s refusal requires no justification beyond his or her professional and personal judgment. A patient disagreeing with such a judgment is free to find another doctor who may not be so disinclined.

This woman’s law suit is a pure publicity stunt and should be dismissed as such.

[xsmommy]

Any doctor would be within his or her rights to refuse to perform any purely elective, medical procedure on any particular patient. The doctor’s refusal requires no justification beyond his or her professional and personal judgment. A patient disagreeing with such a judgment is free to find another doctor who may not be so disinclined

exactly.

[VOATNOW1]

Does this woman have a job and or the means to support a child? Does she have a history of drug abuse? Is she HIV positive? Does she have an eating disorder? What was she being treated for? Straight and Gay people must pass a back ground check before AI can be considered. How do we even know that the doctors are Catholic? We need more information on this case.

[virginiaspook]

You make some good points and I will go a bit further: I have no argument with anyone being gay. It's none of my business. At the same time, I believe that the research will back up my belief that children need both a mother and a father. So, responsible gay people need to accept that there are things they simply can't offer. Anyone who truly cares about children will choose what's right for the child. As we all have to do when we're grown up, they need to accept that there will be limitations on gratification of their desires. Novel concept in this day and age, eh?

[mckenzie7]

You hit the nail on the head! When a person is humiliated, they seek solitude, not national exposure.

[meandog]

The issue is not about condemning anyone for being the way they are or about whether or not they or their parents had a choice in such. Rather the issue is about condemning someone for the way they behave. Behavior is a voluntary choice… (Otherwise, it is a psychosis and subject to psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.)

CONCUR...

Any doctor would be within his or her rights to refuse to perform any purely elective, medical procedure on any particular patient. The doctor’s refusal requires no justification beyond his or her professional and personal judgment. A patient disagreeing with such a judgment is free to find another doctor who may not be so disinclined.

DISAGREE...The doctor may be within his rights legally but morally and ethically he is supposed to provide the medical care to alleviate his patient's affliction (in this case her inability to conceive children). After all, he's not being asked to perform an abortion (in which case I would agree with you) he is only being asked to provide the patient with treatment to enhance her fertility--which is the same request many hetrosexual women ask of physicians.

[pgyanke]

...he is only being asked to provide the patient with treatment to enhance her fertility...

Disingenuous. He is being asked to artificially inseminate her... make a new life inside her artificially. He already provided fertility treatment. If she is now fertile, she can handle the rest on her own initiative...

[rintense]

So, is a lesbian doctor within her rights to deny a straight couple the same procedure simply because she doesn't agree with their lifestyle choice?

[meandog]

Artificial insemination is NOT a necessary treatment. It is an elective procedure...
Spoken like a true liberal. The doctor wasn't judging them. He was refusing to let himself violate his own morals...
LOL! Refusing to inseminate someone violates the Hippocratic Oath? You're unclear on the concept. Patients, IMHO, should allow doctors to live by their consciences rather than hauling them before a judge for refusing to perform immoral elective procedures...

Am I reading something different that you people? I thought the article was about FERTILITY treatments...

[pgyanke]

Am I reading something different that you people? I thought the article was about FERTILITY treatments...

From the Article:
"I trusted my doctors and then they humiliated my family and me by refusing to perform the insemination procedure after they'd been treating me and promising it to me for nearly a year," she said.

Reading Is Fundamental.

[meandog]

Disingenuous. He is being asked to artificially inseminate her... make a new life inside her artificially. He already provided fertility treatment. If she is now fertile, she can handle the rest on her own initiative...

Where do you find that in the article? I've read it, it mentions nothing about artificial insemination.