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niyad

(112,426 posts)
Sat May 7, 2016, 02:26 PM May 2016

1 in 6 Hospital Beds Are In Catholic Facilities That Deny Critical Healthcare to Women

(for those of you who wonder WHY we talk about catholic medical care)


1 in 6 Hospital Beds Are In Catholic Facilities That Deny Critical Healthcare to Women


A new report issued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and MergerWatch found that one in six hospital beds in the United States are located in a Catholic facility that denies critical reproductive health care services, even when a patient’s life or health is endangered.
According to the report, Health Care Denied, hundreds of healthcare facilities in the U.S. follow a set of policy guidelines issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Called the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” these guidelines prohibit basic reproductive health care services for women, including contraception, sterilization and infertility treatments as well as abortion—even when a the patient’s life or health in endangered.

The facilities at issue are sometimes owned by a Catholic health system or diocese, but even other hospitals follow Catholic directives, including hospitals affiliated with a Catholic hospital or system (which may include public hospitals that are managed by Catholic health systems) and historically Catholic hospitals which are currently owned by a secular non-profit or for-profit health care system. In some areas, more than 40 percent of all hospital beds are in a facility that follows Catholic directives, and entire regions have no other option for hospital care, leaving many women without access to essential care.
After her water broke when she was only 18-weeks pregnant, Tamesha Means, who is featured in the ACLU/MergerWatch report, went immediately to the nearest hospital, Mercy Health Partners in Muskegon, Michigan. Although it was highly unlikely that Means would deliver a healthy baby, the hospital, operating under the Catholic directives, never discussed with her the option of ending the pregnancy, arguably the safest course of action. Nor did the hospital provide Means with a referral to alternative providers. Instead, Means was sent home with painkillers. Means returned to the hospital the next day showing signs of infection and complaining of bleeding and severe pain; but, according to the report, the hospital sent her home once again. The hospital did not provide care until Means, then in extreme pain, appeared a third time and went into labor. The baby died hours later.

“When a pregnant woman seeks medical care a hospital, she should be able to trust that decisions about her treatment will be based on medicine, not religious policies,” said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Louise Melling. “Distressingly, in an increasing number of hospitals across this country, that is not the reality. We all have a right to our religious beliefs—but that does not include the right to impose those beliefs on others, particularly when that means closing the door on patients seeking medical care.”

. . . .


http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2016/05/06/1-in-6-hospital-beds-are-in-catholic-facilities-that-deny-critical-healthcare-to-women/

8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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1 in 6 Hospital Beds Are In Catholic Facilities That Deny Critical Healthcare to Women (Original Post) niyad May 2016 OP
I am going to have to admit that Tsiyu May 2016 #1
And what would you do if your... meaculpa2011 May 2016 #2
Dumb human error and incompetence happen Tsiyu May 2016 #4
JCAHO needs to step up and enforce standards of care Warpy May 2016 #3
We need to have enforcable standards of care that's equitable to women, and if the Church wants... Humanist_Activist May 2016 #5
I'm with an atheist group that's helping American Atheists write a disclosure bill. lindysalsagal May 2016 #6
Many years ago I was miscarring & living in Greensboro, NC womanofthehills May 2016 #7
Redding, CA has two hospitals XemaSab May 2016 #8

Tsiyu

(18,186 posts)
1. I am going to have to admit that
Sat May 7, 2016, 02:34 PM
May 2016

if any goddamned sick, twisted Roman Catholic killed my daughter so their Sky Daddy will give them extra heaven and Hail Mary points, it would not be a stretch to see me return to that hospital to score some semi-automatic points of my own.

I am not a violent person, but if some goddamned motherfucking Catholic harms my kid? Their Sky Daddy is the last of their worries.

I am not proud to say this, but I would probably not be able to control my murderous rage if my child was harmed in the name of someone else's BULLSHIT faith in hot air. No, I am not proud of this fact, but it is what it is.

Be warned Catholic hospitals: I am sure I'm not the only parent who feels this way.

meaculpa2011

(918 posts)
2. And what would you do if your...
Sat May 7, 2016, 02:39 PM
May 2016

child was neglected to death in a municipal hospital?

It happens every day.

Tsiyu

(18,186 posts)
4. Dumb human error and incompetence happen
Sat May 7, 2016, 02:49 PM
May 2016

Not Kosher, but not intentional methods of harm.

When you believe that the rules made by ignorant Bronze Age goat herders and modern wealthy men in robes and funny hats entitle you to kill my child to keep a dying fetus alive for five more minutes? You know what that will do. You know you are putting a woman's life in grave danger and you intend to let her die to please your Make Believe "Loving Father."

No, violence is not a solution, but I have PTSD, and if a goddamned Roman Catholic healthcare "professional" were to let my daughter suffer and die to save a dying fetus? I would be so enraged, it's quite possible I would help anyone involved in that "medical decision" find out if it's true that they meet Jesus when they die.

Warpy

(110,900 posts)
3. JCAHO needs to step up and enforce standards of care
Sat May 7, 2016, 02:39 PM
May 2016

and pull the accreditation of hospitals where the administration is too prissy to provide appropriate care to women. That would mean no insurance reimbursement at those hospitals and that would kill them off unless they complied with acceptable standards of care, especially in OB-Gyn departments.

As of now they get away with murder, and not figuratively.

With their profits threatened, Rome would have no choice except to provide care, not admit female patients, or get out of the hospital business completely.

 

Humanist_Activist

(7,670 posts)
5. We need to have enforcable standards of care that's equitable to women, and if the Church wants...
Sat May 7, 2016, 03:01 PM
May 2016

step in and interfere with that, then they need to be forced out of the healthcare system.

lindysalsagal

(20,433 posts)
6. I'm with an atheist group that's helping American Atheists write a disclosure bill.
Sat May 7, 2016, 07:57 PM
May 2016

We'll force providers to admit when medical information is witheld for religious reasons.

womanofthehills

(8,579 posts)
7. Many years ago I was miscarring & living in Greensboro, NC
Sat May 7, 2016, 08:42 PM
May 2016

My ex husband and I had only been in NC for a few weeks and I didn't know anything about the hospitals.

I started bleeding and went to the closest hospital and didn't realize it was a Catholic hospital. The docs told me the baby was dead but they could not do a D & C because that was an abortion and I had to wait till the baby came out by itself. Good thing I did not leave the hospital because I would have bleed to death and I'm sure many women did due to Catholic hospital policies.

Suddenly, I began bleeding like a faucet was turned on full force - about 15 staff came running to my room, I was given a shot to slow the bleeding and put out on the way to the operating room.

XemaSab

(60,212 posts)
8. Redding, CA has two hospitals
Sat May 7, 2016, 09:20 PM
May 2016

The Catholic hospital (which is being sued for not proving tubal ligations for women who are already undergoing c-sections) and the hospital that's been investigated numerous times for unnecessary heart surgery and overdiagnosing kwashiorkor.

There is no third option.

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