
State Supreme Court may give gays a medical victory
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Legal Help Desk
5/29/2008
"Two weeks after deciding same-sex couples are entitled to marry, the California Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to rule that physicians have no constitutional right to refuse medical treatment to gays on grounds it would violate their religious beliefs.
"The justices' inclination emerged as the state high court heard arguments in a case that pits the religious freedom of physicians against the right of gays to be free from discrimination.
"...Jennifer C. Pizer, who represented Benitez for Lambda Legal, told the court that doctors may not decide which patients can receive certain treatments.
"'If a service is being offered to some, it needs to be offered to others in a nondiscriminatory way,' Pizer said."