I’m betting that if the counselors who do this are Medicare and/or Medicaid contractors–or any number of other private insurance contractors–they are running afoul of their contracts. No state law can supersede federal law with regards to Medicare and/or Medicaid. Additionally, it’s questionable if the legislature and the governor thought this one through with regards to the private insurance situation. No insurer worth their weight in salt would dare allow contractors to opt out of something like this. Personally, I wouldn’t want anything to do with a “doctor” or “therapist” of any kind who considered me as anything less than human and worthy of equality in this society. That said, there are instances–such crime scenes, public hospitals, public healthcare facilities, etc., where the LGBTQ person doesn’t have a choice. These “doctors” and “therapists” should have their accreditation and licensing revoked.
I’m also pretty sure that there are professional ethics that this just stomps all over, with accreditations that could be yanked as a consequence of denying treatment to anyone for other than professional resasons. These people just suck.
This will run afoul of federal contracts and put that money at risk for that state. Even private therapists in many of those Christian counseling centers accept federal dollars under Medicaid and Medicare. But should they decide to reject that money, I can’t see how this changes the law unless there’s a legal challenge on equal protection grounds.
This kind of shit makes my blood boil. I have no words for how disgusting this law is or what kind of people make these kinds of laws. I’m just so fed up with these fucking bigots trying to run their own little fiefdoms.
“Tennessee’s Republican governor said Wednesday he signed a bill that allows mental health counselors to refuse to treat patients based on the therapist’s religious or personal beliefs.”
From The Hippocratic Oath:
“Above all, I must not play at God.”
They must use the abridged version in Tennessee.
Another absolute non-problem remedied by thinly veiled bigotry in the guise of a solution. Counsellors already have an ethical obligation to refer clients out FOR ANY REASON that the therapist believes would compromise the best interest of the client. And I certainly think bigotry disguised as piety on the part of the therapist is a pretty good goddamned reason. Petty and hateful.
It’s all election years stunts. The bad news is as a law, it will stand until repealed by liberal legislators…and in TN that could be never!
There most certainly are. Although a bigoted therapist could always make the claim that they acted in the best interest of the client. But they have never needed legislated bigotry to do that.
