The debate over sexual orientation and religious conviction has spilled over into state rules for licensed psychologists.
NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, June 12, 2009 12:00 am
The debate over sexual orientation and religious conviction has spilled over into state rules for licensed psychologists.
Psychologists should be able to refuse to treat - and refuse to refer clients - because of religious or moral convictions, Jim Cunningham, executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said during a licensing rules hearing Thursday.
The conference also supports a similar "convictions of conscience" rule for licensed counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists.
Without any conscience clause, Catholic Charities in Omaha and Catholic Social Services in Lincoln might have to stop hiring licensed counselors and psychologists, Cunningham said.
The Lincoln agency provides about $100,000 in free mental health services, he said Thursday.
While most ethics codes for professional counselors and psychologists allow professionals to refuse to offer services based on ethical or moral convictions, the codes generally require the professional to refer the client.
But even referring clients could be a violation of conscience when the service violates moral or religious convictions, Cunningham said.
Having a specific conscience clause in licensing rules also helps avoid practical problems, others at the hearing said.
Without a moral exemption, a psychologist who believes homosexual relationships are immoral might be required to counsel homosexual couples on building a better relationship, said Edward Stringham, a Lincoln psychologist.
Stringham pointed to a 2001 federal court case where the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals supported an employer who fired a counselor for refusing, on moral grounds, to provide relationship enhancement counseling to a lesbian.
That decision demonstrates the legitimacy of concerns by counseling professionals who fear that declining to provide services could bring adverse legal consequences, he said.
But another Lincoln psychologist said the conviction of conscience language opens a Pandora's box.
It could allow any provider to discriminate against virtually anyone -as long as they claim a conflicting moral or religious belief, said James K. Cole, who represented the Nebraska Psychology Association at the hearing.
There have been no known problems nationally or in Nebraska with claims that psychologists are forced to compromise moral or religious values because of the national ethics code requiring them to help refer a client, he said.
And the refuse-to-refer clause is morally wrong, he said.
"I have provided psychological services to individuals convicted of murder, and I have never had to compromise my moral belief that killing is wrong," said Cole, a forensic psychologist.
"I have seen sexual offenders including individuals who are sexually attracted to children and who have abused children without ever having to compromise my moral belief that this behavior is wrong," he said.
The convictions of conscience clause is already a part of proposed rule changes for counselors.
It is compromise language worked out between the Board of Mental Health Practice and the Nebraska Catholic Conference this winter.
The proposed rule changes for psychologists does not include the convictions of conscience clause. There likely would be a second hearing if the licensing board decided to add it, according to the hearing officer.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.