Extremely disturbing and unethical’: new rules allow VA doctors to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans

06/16/2025

‘Extremely disturbing and unethical’: new rules allow VA doctors to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans
Department of Veterans Affairs says the changes come in response to a Trump executive order ‘defending women’

Doctors at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals nationwide could refuse to treat unmarried veterans and Democrats under new hospital guidelines imposed following an executive order by Donald Trump.

The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.

Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law

By: Aaron Glantz June 16, 2025

Read the full story here The Guardian