Question about morality of working with medical records

[Nick]

I might have an opportunity to work in a warehouse that houses records for a lot of different companies some of which would be medical. Would it be acceptable to work in such a place if some of the records included abortion records? If I am just filing papers etc. would that be a problem? Thanks.

 

[LilyM]

I might have an opportunity to work in a warehouse that houses records for a lot of different companies some of which would be medical. Would it be acceptable to work in such a place if some of the records included abortion records? If I am just filing papers etc. would that be a problem? Thanks.

If it’s a warehouse it sounds like they’d be pretty old records (ie those that no longer need to be kept on the premises of the medical facilities). It’s hardly like you’re advising, encouraging or assisting the occurrence of these abortions in any way - just clearing up the mess paperworkwise after the fact.

 

[Texas_Roofer]

The prohibition is against actions which actively support abortion. Is there a reason you think the activities in the warehouse would be supportive of such? Usually a warehouse is simply records of things that happened in the past, with no support or opposition present.

 

[Loy]

Think about it this way. If it would be immoral to handle documents recording immoral behaviour, then it would be immoral to study the Holocaust.

Please talk to a priest about this. I’m sure he’ll help you understand.

Something else to consider: due to patient confidentiality, you probably won’t actually be reading these records.