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The ethical accommodation of patients’ religious beliefs in healthcare: a care respect framework prompted by examples from modern Paganism

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Abstract

Conflicts of values arise between the values of healthcare staff, and the values of some religious patients. The reasons why, and the extent to which, patient beliefs and values ought to be accommodated has been a feature of the ethics literature for some time. Despite this, some patients still experience difficulty in having their religious and spiritual needs met, and some staff are still reluctant to engage with religious and spiritual issues. Thus, the compassionate and respectful care the NHS claims as a value is not, in some instances, being met.
In this thesis I put forward an alternative way of conceptualising the need for and the limitations of accommodation for the religious beliefs of patients. I draw on Dillon’s conception of ‘care respect’, a feminist-ethics-informed fusion of respect for persons and care ethics. Using the foundation of care respect, I explore and critique justifications for accommodation. I argue that because a person’s beliefs are an essential part of them, we have a general obligation to accommodate those beliefs if we are to be serious about respecting persons. This obligation to persons also imposes important limits on what accommodation is permissible.
Much of the literature has focused on the Abrahamic faiths. Systems of weighting for and against particular accommodations are shaped by that particular understanding of what religion is. They may be exclusionary of less well-known faiths. I address the issue of whether the beliefs of modern Pagans are adequately supported by current options and find that they are not. I therefore use care respect to structure a weighting system that balances the conflicting obligations in any particular case, including those where the patient’s religious beliefs are Pagan ones.

Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024

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