“The most chilling facet of this situation is that the clinic is more than willing to hand Barbera a potential death sentence over a difference of opinion. The second-most chilling facet is that this situation was not created as a result of a law, policy, or practice of a federal, state, or municipal agency. This was done at the discretion of the Oregon Health Science University, which did not like Barbera’s views on gender.”
(Lincoln Brown – PJ Media) Marlene Barbera is an Oregon resident who is fighting breast cancer. Until recently, she was a patient at the Richmond Family Medicine Clinic in Portland and was scheduled for a mastectomy. She will now be forced to seek treatment elsewhere—if that is even an option for her.
In the health care system, doctors can “fire” an uncooperative patient for things such as a lengthy pattern of non-compliance with their treatments or because they repeatedly fail to pay their bills. It has to be a longstanding situation and it has to be willful. Patients cannot be fired simply because they happen to be forgetful or sloppy about their finances. It does not happen often, but it is an option in extreme circumstances. That being said, political views are not a reason for releasing a patient from care. But that is what happened to Barbera.