Dr. Jessica Scotchie weighs in on Tennessee healthcare law in Chattanooga Times Free Press
Enacted in 2025, the Tennessee Medical Ethics Defense Act (SB 955) gives medical practitioners the right to refuse to provide treatments if the treatments conflict with a provider’s personal or religious convictions. Critics warn this policy could jeopardize patient safety and restrict essential healthcare services.
TRM’s Dr. Jessica Scotchie spoke to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, noting that the Medical Ethics Defense Act is at odds with the Hippocratic oath she took as a physician: “You know our mission and our service is to the person that’s in front of us, regardless of what they bring to the table with their backstory.”
“I think it gets really muddy if we really are starting to go down this road where physicians are able to cast some type of judgment on what they believe the person in front of them is or isn’t doing and living their life. Then where does that end?”
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