Doctors, And Others, Who Can't Do Their Job

A friend emailed me an article from the Telegraph today. The Telegraph is not a paper which I personally buy, it's a little too right wing, foreigners are evil, long live the Tories for me. I mean this is the paper that claimed immigrants from EU countries are driving up house prices in the UK. After telling us that the top 10 areas of employment for EU immigrants are in the service industry. See here for the insightful and unbiased article.

"More than one third were factory operatives, 10 per cent packers, nine per cent catering assistants, nine per cent warehouse operatives, followed by cleaners, farm workers, waiters, domestic workers, care assistants and sales assistants"

How many people do you know working in any of those areas that can afford to but houses in the UK market ? But apparently immigration in a major factor in the rise of the average house price from £86,000 to £177,000. Not people buying second homes or property to rent out then.

Back to the point. I checked out the article that I had been emailed. Here it is. Basically, a small number of Muslim medical students are refusing to deal with patients who require treatment for alcohol related illness and sexually transmitted diseases on religious grounds. They also refuse to attend lectures on the subjects. Some are refusing to perform examinations on members of the opposite sex. The Times also has a piece on this. A search at BBC online turned up nothing. Neither did a search at the Guardian online nor at the Independent. I admit I didn't exactly work through every possible combination of search terms but still. Okay I did one search at each using the words Muslim, medical students, doctors, refuse. I thought that would do. Sheesh, people I don't have all day.

I assume that anyone who fails to study any area of medicine for any reason will be unable to pass their exams and therefore I don't really care. You aren't capable of doing the job and you won't qualify. Seems fair to me. What pissed me off was in the Times article. The General Medical Council has "received requests for guidance over whether students could “omit parts of the medical curriculum and yet still be allowed to graduate”".

Eh, let me think, you don't complete the course and as a result can't pass your exam so we should . . . . .consider letting you graduate anyway. Of course ! Why didn't I see it before. So totally logical. To quote a very dear friend, fuck that shit.

I'd have the same opinion of anyone else of any religion in a similar situation. In fact I do. Christan doctors who refuse to refer patients for abortions, or any religious type who refuses to supply any medical procedure/medication etc on religious/moral/ethical grounds consider yourself well and truly off the list of people I like. You know what the job entails, if you can't do it find other employment.

The Times and Telegraph article also mention that Sainsbury's supermarkets allows employees not scan booze at the tills on religious ground, someone else has to be called in to do that. Seems stupid but whatever. Actually, no, not whatever. If you can't fill your job description you shouldn't have the frickin' job.

Apparently this whole I can't do my job for r/m/e reasons is becoming more prevalent. I have an answer. Sack them.

That goes for the doctors who "are unwilling to provide terminations because they believe there is no good excuse for unwanted pregnancies". You see they "don't see why they should have to - as one put it to me - clear up the mess if women can't be bothered to use contraception." The whole article is here. They apparently don't understand that contraceptives can fail. Wow. And these people actually passed their exams ? That's quite disturbing.

You are entitled to what ever beliefs and opinions you want but they should not interfere with your ability to function in your chosen career or job. It's terribly unprofessional.

One other situation that needs mentioned in the I can't do my job properly section. I have friend in the fire brigade who told me that in their whole "equality" drive a female candidate was given a second shot at a test. No male candidate ever has been. If she couldn't pass the test under the same conditions as everyone else then she can't do the job. It's insulting to other candidates, both male and female, who can.