The Medical Society of Delaware held its 228th annual meeting this weekend, to educate its physicians, elect its new slate of officers and discuss new motions.
Dr. Prayus Tailor is President of the Medical Society. He says one of the issues on the table was an update to the society’s policy regarding physician assisted suicide.
“We really feel that the way that we should be empowering our patients at the end of life is to provide the best care that we can to palliate and alleviate pain and suffering. We feel physician assisted suicide is fundamentally inconsistent with our role as physicians and healers,” said Tailor.
No major changes were made to that policy.
One speaker at the event was Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Sarah McBride. She advocates for healthcare professionals to adopt inclusive policies protecting transgender people from discrimination.
“We know that transgender people—roughly 70%—report some form of discrimination in a healthcare setting. That can include being denied care outright or a physician refusing to touch them,” said McBride.
McBride says Delaware’s Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Act of 20-13 has gone a long way to curb unfair treatment of transgender people.
Yolanda Schlabach of Zoe Ministries also spoke. She’s advocating for the development of aftercare and permanent housing for the victims of sex trafficking in Delaware.
Delaware’s medical society also promoted its Voluntary Initiative Program—in which primary care physicians may offer medical services at a reduced fee to uninsured Delawareans.
