Sometimes I wonder where the hell I’m living. It seems that the Michigan House has just passed a bill that, if it gets approved by the Senate, will permit doctors and other health care providers to refuse to treat a patient on “moral, ethical, or religious grounds” (with the exception of emergency treatment). Those grounds would include sexual orientation. Of course, I would not want to be treated by any physician who had any objection to my being who I am, or who thought it was any of his or her damn business, but I can envision any number of circumstances in which I might not have any choice in the matter.

I suppose the fine, decent, thoughtful people who pushed this piece of legislative garbage have never heard of Hippocrates, or if they have, think he was just another ancient Greek pederast. Two other bills passed that would provide similar opt-out passes for insurers and “health facilities.” I sure hope I never have the misfortune of needing major medical attention in the next 15 months. This is not exactly the kind of development that motivates me to want to stay put in the Wolverine State.