Hospital in Redding denies 2 more women tubal ligation

[XemaSab]

A Northern California Catholic hospital that refused to let a woman’s doctor sterilize her after childbirth, then changed course after being threatened with a sex-discrimination lawsuit, has denied tubal ligations to two more pregnant women, citing religious principles.

Mercy Medical Center in Redding, owned by Dignity Health of San Francisco, is again facing a possible lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the two women, joined this time by a nationwide group, Physicians for Reproductive Health.

“California law ... does not permit hospitals open to the general public and supported by public funds to deny patients medically indicated pregnancy-related care,” lawyers for the women and the doctors’ group said Dec, 2 in a letter to the hospital and its owner. “Nor does it permit corporate entities to elevate their theological tenets over patient health.”

In response, the hospital issued a statement saying that “in general, it is our practice not to provide sterilization services at Dignity Health’s Catholic facilities” because of the “ethical and religious directives” that govern Catholic hospitals.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Hospital-in-Redding-denies-2-more-women-tubal-6680121.php

[malaise]

1. Good - so cut the Federal money

from all of them. Stop imposing your shit while begging for tax payers money

[get the red out]

3. Hell yes!

If women can't get proper care they lose taxpayer funds!

[smirkymonkey]

10. Exactly!

[hifiguy]

14. Boom. This.

[leftofcool]

2. Stop giving these hospitals tax payers' money!

Let's see how long they stay in business without public funds.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. "ethical" my arse - ethically, the hospital is objectively evil in this case

Their only argument is that their religion tells them to put the women at medical risk, because it's in the religion.

[Omaha Steve]

5. WAR on women

K&R for exposure.

OS

[Holly_Hobby]

6. This happened to me in 1981 in Toledo, Ohio

St. Charles Hospital in the suburb of Oregon, Ohio refused to let my gynecologist sterilize me.

I went to Planned Parenthood, signed a document, and was sterilized the next week. I was 25 years old, single and without children. No questions asked. None. I'm 59 now and Planned Parenthood is still my gynecologist.

[ellie]

9. I was born there!

My mom had her tubes tied after my little brother was born there in 1968.

[Holly_Hobby]

11. I suspect the reason I was denied

is because I wasn't married and had no children. Which is still wrong, IMO.

I still live about 12 miles from there, but desperately trying to escape to greener pastures

[bettyellen]

19. I had huge problems getting an IUD, because they were afraid it would screw up my fertility....

even though I was happy to sign off I hoped it messed with my fertility!

[csziggy]

13. No Catholic hospitals here but in 1977 I had to doctor shop to get a tubal

Most doctors would not even consider doing it for a 25 year old single woman with no children. I was lucky enough to find a doctor that believed me when I said I would never want kids and who did the operation for me. I was lucky since there was and is no Planned Parenthood clinic here.

[Holly_Hobby]

23. You got that right -

they thought I was nuts. I told the hospital, in writing, that I had alcoholism, mental illness and substance abuse in my family and didn't want to pass it on. The hospital said it wouldn't do it for any reason whatsoever. PP didn't ask why I didn't want children, but had me talk to their counselor to be sure I knew it was permanent. It was quick. They have my business for life, as long as they'll have me.

[dembotoz]

7. what is the term the zealot assholes use??? ah yes....defund them

[MineralMan]

8. Frankly, I think that no woman should go near any

Last edited Mon Dec 7, 2015, 03:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Catholic hospital for anything related to reproduction. There are philosophical and dogma issues. I recommend choosing a secular hospital for all such medical care.

[LeftyMom]

12. That's nice. A lot of women don't have a choice.

In many cases the only nearby hospital is a religious hospital (they're buying up hospital systems at quite a clip) and even when there is an option it may not be covered by one's insurance.

Additionally a lot of Catholic hospitals are named in such a way as to disguise their nature. The one closest to me is named for another denomination entirely and didn't change names when Dignity/Mercy bought it.

[MineralMan]

17. Well, in the case of Redding, CA, there is also the

Shasta Regional Medical Center, a non-catholic hospital with high ratings. While you're right that there are some places where an independent hospital isn't available, the city named in this story is not one of them.

By choosing not to use Catholic hospitals for reproductive care, women can send a clear message to the industry. Most people don't actually know what services might be denied at any particular hospital. However the ground level philosophy of the RCC is to try to deny contraception and other services whenever possible. That can be done by subterfuge as well as by frank denial of service.

What patients can do is deny the hospital their patronage. There's little else they can do, really. It was not so long ago that many Catholic hospitals automatically decided to save an infant's life instead of the mother's in crisis situations, without even asking what the patient or the family wanted. Now, they don't do that openly any longer, but the philosophy still exists that an infant is more valuable than an adult.

I maintain that women should avoid such hospitals as a matter of principle. Your opinion may differ.

[LeftyMom]

20. The hospital that was caught performing open heart surgery on healthy people?

That's not much of a choice.

And again, women are largely at the mercy of their insurer. You go where you're covered. High risk pregnancies also don't tend to have a choice: A similar lawsuit involved a woman who needed to deliver at a hospital with a NICU and to be sterilized so she didn't have another dangerous pregnancy.

[MineralMan]

21. Well, that happened in 2004 and earlier.

Since that was discovered, I imagine such a thing won't be happening again there. Further, Tenet Healthcare no longer owns that hospital. It's good, though, to investigate the places you get your healthcare. But that investigation needs to be based on current ownership and conditions, not things that were discovered 11 years ago and dealt with.

I don't know about you, but I know exactly which hospital here in St. Paul I want to be transported to. I've done my research and my choice is covered by my personally selected Medicare supplement.

[XemaSab]

22. They've been hella sketch more recently than that

http://www.redding.com/news/third-world-nutritional-disorder-soars-at-shasta

[KamaAina]

15. Xposted to California group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1040

[KamaAina]

16. Do they allow men to have vasectomies at that facility?

h/t DebbieCDC from the CA group

[Skittles]

24. well of course

it's misogyny, plain and simple

[Humanist_Activist]

18. The so called "ethics" that governs Catholics is incompatible with public health, honestly I...

think the Church should stay out of the medical service industry, these hospitals should be either publicly run or run by secular non-profits who won't put ideology over health care.