By Dr. Paul Ranalli
Editor’s note. Dr. Ranalli is a Toronto neurologist who has contributed to National Right to Life News many times on many topics. The following is a letter to the editor he sent to the National Post, a prominent Canadian newspaper. It was in response to a March 7 article that described the new policy of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. We wrote about this yesterday.

Dr. Paul Ranalli
Following that letter to the editor is one Dr. Ranalli sent earlier that was not published.
Something precious was lost when Ontario’s College of Physicians and Surgeons voted to strip doctors of their universally recognized right not to participate in an action that violates a properly formed conscience.
Its arrogance was nicely captured in the quote from past president Dr. Marc Gabel, who told the college counsel, “You cannot kick someone out of your office without care” — a slanderous mischaracterization of physicians who wish to bow out of the referral process for abortion and doctor-assisted killing.
The vote took place the same day the Canadian Medical Association reportedly defended a physician’s right not to be forced to refer against his/her moral beliefs. The Ontario and American medical associations, are opposed; members of the profession and public have registered protests on the college’s website. Most damning, the college did not present a shred of evidence of any lack of access to care requiring it to bulldoze members’ conscience rights.
In effect, the professional body charged with ensuring doctors are ethical has told them to check their ethics at the office door.
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Enshrining discrimination on the basis of ethical orientation

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
It is no small irony that the physician’s regulatory body responsible for ensuring ethical behaviour is about to enforce a demand that doctors must check their own personal ethics at the door. John Carpay (letter – Feb. 20) correctly notes the coercive nature of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s proposed policy to strip the province’s doctors of their conscience rights. If put in place, it will effectively enshrine discrimination on the basis of ethical orientation .
The College’s Dr. Mark Gabel let the cat out of the bag in December when he told a reporter for the Catholic Register “It may well be that you would have to think about whether you can practice family medicine as it is defined in Canada and in most Western countries.” When asked what conscientious would-be family doctors should do in the face of such a Policy, Dr. Gabel said, “Medicine is an amazingly wide profession with many, many areas to practice medicine.”
Any reasonable person would conclude that Dr. Gabel was warning readers that there would be no place in this province for new family doctors who are unwilling to violate their conscience and refer for abortion or doctor-assisted killing.
As if to confirm the disturbing nature of these words, College President Dr. Carol Leet vociferously denied a paraphrase of Gabel’s words incorrectly contained in quotation marks by Dr. Margaret Somerville in an earlier Op-Ed piece in the Post. However, Dr. Somerville’s paraphrase captured the essence of Dr. Gabel’s words, and indeed Gabel’s words follow logically from the text of the proposed Policy.
While Dr. Leet’s response was tactically opportunistic, she was pointing out a distinction without a difference.