General Medical Council Guidance for Doctors on Personal Belief

The GMC has updated its guidance on personal belief and medical treatment for doctors. This includes direction that:

Doctors do have the right to opt out of providing a particular procedure because of their personal ‘beliefs or values, as long as this does not result in direct or indirect discrimination against, or harassment of, individual patients or groups of patients’, nor cause distress to them.

However,

• doctors must be open with patients employers, partners and colleagues about their conscientious objections in advance, and must also
• explain and make sure that patients are able to see another doctor who does not hold the same conscientious objection

See the update here: http://www.gmc-uk.org/Personal_beliefs_and_medical_practice.pdf_51462245.pdf …