Holly Fernandez Lynch

Holly Fernandez Lynch is the author of Conflicts of Conscience in Health Care: An Institutional Compromise, published by MIT Press in October 2008. The book examines the question of what we can appropriately ask of physicians who disagree with their patients' requests for certain types of care. In most cases, the book argues, conscientious refusers can play a valuable role in the profession, as long as additional measures are taken to protect the interests of patients as well. However, these measures do not necessarily mean that all physicians must provide all services. If the profession of medicine as a whole steps in to fulfill its duties of access, sub-specialization based on conscience may be a viable option for individual professionals.

Ms. Lynch completed the book while she was an academic fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. She has also written about the ethics of placebo-controlled pediatric trials, enforcement of advanced directives, the influence of law on informed consent, and genetic privacy.

Ms. Lynch is an attorney and bioethicist, with a J.D. and M. Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania. She has experience as an associate in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology practice at Hogan & Hartson, LLP in Washington, DC, and currently works with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine. At the Foundation, Ms. Lynch provides guidance on human subjects protection issues to the Division of AIDS, within the National Institutes of Health. Her views on conflicts of conscience in health care are her own and do not necessarily represent those of the Foundation or the NIH.