TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Legislature on Tuesday began moving forward with a bill that would allow health care providers to act on their “conscience” when deciding whether to provide certain treatments for patients.
For some lawmakers, the proposal exposed the line between religious freedom for doctors and medical discrimination against patients.
The measure would provide sweeping protections for health care providers or insurers to avoid nonemergency procedures that they say violate their religious, moral or ethical beliefs. Religiously oriented health care companies would be allowed to make staffing, employment and contracting decisions in accordance with those beliefs under the bill, House Bill 747. And under the bill, no health care provider could be sued after an employee exercises their “right of conscience.”
