Should doctors be able to refuse care if it offends their conscience? A conversation with Professor Julian Savulescu

This episode contains material some people might find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. Melbourne Law School and host Jon Faine bring you Justice: a weekly podcast about the law behind the news.Should doctors be obliged provide all services that are ethically approved by their colleges and legal under the law, or should they have the right to refuse terminations, assisted dying or any other forms of care on the basis of personal conscience?Professor Julian Savulescu FAHMS is the Chen Su Lan Centennial Professor in Medical Ethics at the National University of Singapore, where he directs the Centre for Biomedical Ethics. He is an award-winning ethicist and moral philosopher, trained in neuroscience, medicine, and philosophy. He is Distinguished Visiting Professorial Fellow at Murdoch Children's Research Institute and Melbourne Law School. Read more about medical ethics here: Coelho, Ramona, et al. Unravelling Maid in Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 15 Apr. 2025, www.mqup.ca/Books/U/Unravelling-MAiD-in-Canada2. Grant, Isabel, et al. "A Conversation on Feminism, Ableism, and Medical Assistance in Dying." Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, vol. 35 no. 1, 2024, p. 31-72. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/947747. Justice is a podcast of Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on which we record, publish, work, learn and live.