Intolerance of Christianity continues
30 May 2011
A Kent doctor faces losing his job after discussing Christianity with a patient, and another Christian doctor has been denied the right to vote on adoption cases.
Many forms of alternative therapy can be offered to patients, but Dr Richard Scott has discovered the hard way that Christian counselling is not one of them. The 50-year-old Christian GP at the Bethesda Medical Centre in Margate, Kent, faces being struck off by the General Medical Council which has reprimanded him for harassing a vulnerable patient, and that he risked bringing the profession into disrepute by discussing his religious beliefs. Dr Scott denies this and insists that he had the patient’s consent to discuss faith matters, whom he had seen at the request of the patient’s mother. He has engaged the Christian Legal Centre to defend himself against the charge.
Spiritual pain is one the elements recognised by the World Health Organisation’s protocol on managing pain, which is routinely overlooked by many doctors, so it is not surprising that the average member of the public, and his mother, do not know that doctors should address it, especially in depressed patients.
The same cannot be said of the GMC who seem to have rushed to judgment. Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, explained its guidance that “doctors should not normally discuss their personal beliefs with patients unless those beliefs are directly relevant to the patient’s care. They also must not impose their beliefs on patients, or cause distress by the inappropriate or insensitive expression of religious, political or other beliefs or views.” This begs the question whether Dr Scott was imposing his beliefs, but the scandal is that depression is increasing in our society and the spiritual pain associated with it is not being addressed by doctors at all levels, many of whom have difficulty recognising the diagnosis, far less referring patients to appropriate counselling. Two local MPs, Roger Gale of North Thanet and Laura Sandys of South Thanet, have condemned the GMC for seeking to reprimand Dr Scott. Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, which has 4,000 members including about 2,000 GPs, also criticised the GMC. He said the “clear implication” of the GMC guidelines was that a doctor should be allowed to express his personal beliefs in a way that is “appropriate and sensitive”. “All good doctors try to treat their patients as whole persons, not just biochemical machines. That does sometimes include spiritual matters, dealing with questions of meaning and purpose.”
This micro-managing of the medical skills of doctors is demeaning to the profession and one would expect the GMC to protect doctors from it. However the GMC is on the ropes of public opinion.
It is taking some time for professional Christians to realise that the writing is on the wall. The Telegraph commented: “We appear to be heading towards an alarming situation in which the profession of faith becomes an active disqualification.” Another Christian doctor, Dr Sheila Matthews, has been denied the right to vote on an adoption panel. Northamptonshire County Council said: “We have told Dr Matthews that she cannot continue to act as a full member of the adoption panel with voting rights as she is not fulfilling the full duties of a panel member by refusing to vote on adoption issues regarding same sex couples.”
Prisoners are allowed to vote in their prison cells, and councillors are expected to declare an interest and to abstain from voting, but Dr Matthews is not allowed to vote on the majority of adoption cases simply because she wishes to abstain from voting in the rare cases when she would ‘declare an interest’. More than 3,200 children were adopted in England last year. Ninety were placed with homosexual couples.
The threat to one’s medical career is one more factor in the growing cost from anti-Christian sentiment in our society. How long before Christian doctors leave the country rather than be forced out of the profession? The government bends over backwards to retain bankers with massive bonuses, but does the public care about the cost of Christian intolerance in our society?
