More women are refused healthcare due to hospital ideology, report says

A Phoenix-area nun was recently removed from her job as a senior administrator of a Catholic hospital and was excommunicated by the Catholic church because she was part of a hospital board that approved an emergency abortion last year for a woman -- a mother of four children -- whose life was in danger due to complications of the 11-week pregnancy.

That the nun, Sister Margaret McBride, should be punished for providing what is considered standard and appropriate medical care has led to a huge national outcry. But the issue goes further, according to a report released this week by the National Health Law Program, a national public-interest group that seeks to improve care for the working class, poor and minorities. The report claims that a growing number of patients are encountering hospital policies that deny some types of medical care -- such as abortion or contraceptive services -- due to ideological or religious beliefs. One in six Americans is seen in hospitals that have some restrictions, according to the report "Health Care Refusals: Undermining Quality Care for Women."

"When people go to the doctor, they should be able to expect that the care they receive meets prevailing medical standards," Susan Berke Fogel, the lead author of the report, said in a news release. "We reviewed policies at hospital systems representing more than 650 facilities across the U.S. and have documented the conditions and circumstances where that is not happening. We found a disturbing number of case studies where patients ended up far worse off either because their healthcare providers refused care or because their hospitals prohibited the care they needed for ideological or religious reasons."

This issue is typically framed as a moral contest between health providers' rights of conscience versus patient autonomy, Fogel writes in the report. But that narrow framework overlooks the most important factor in the debate: an evidence-based analysis of what constitutes the best medical practice.

-- Shari Roan

Photo: Daniel Hulshizer  /  Associated Press

Comments

[thebob.bob]

"evidence-based analysis "?????

We're talking about Religion here! If they believe it, it's true! Go through their "sacred texts" and ask them if the really believe half the junk in there. Of course not. Evidence??? Ha!

[Jerry Fullerton]

Here's the deal, if you need contraceptives or an aborton, don't go to a Catholic Hospital...go somewhere else!

[Lisa Porter]

People should avoid at all costs these type of rigid so called "religious" hospitals. It sounds like they would rather see you dead than provide adequate healthcare. The problem is that in cases of emergency, people often don't know of the restrictions these places have.

[Jimmy Jazz]

"Here's the deal, if you need contraceptives or an aborton, don't go to a Catholic Hospital...go somewhere else!

Posted by: Jerry Fullerton"

Why don't you actually read the article? The situation in question was an expecting mother who wanted to carry the child to term, but probably would have died if she did so. I don't have a problem with Catholic hospitals not directly providing abortions, but they DO need to provide accurate information to their patients and direct them to other facilities for care, or be sued out of existence for malpractice.

[MJC]

I was raised Catholic, but left the church because of the appalling way its leadership treats women. I have come to see the Catholic church as an old man's club who uses the Sunday donation plates to fund its enterprise.

[CB]

Since the child would have died anyway, Sister McBride made the only Christian choice she could have made--to save at least one life. How dare her superiors excommunicate her for a compassionate choice? Please tell me the difference, other than degree, of these clerics from those of the Taliban? You know, the ones who let women die because no other man than a husband could see their naked bodies, and female doctors were not allowed to work. Do those fusty Catholic men really think a compassionate God would condemn her for her choice? To choose doctrine over common sense and caring is worthy of excommunication, also. If I believed in such things, I'd rather be her standing in front of St. Peter than either of her superiors who punished her.

[faile13]

Let me get this straight-the nun was one of 'a board'(how many?) that approved an abortion for a woman who was pregnant with her fifth child but had a life-threatening condition that would have killed her and probably the baby and deprived her other children of their mother. This woman sounds like the ideal Catholic-she had four kids already, and was happily pregnant again! This was not an easy or frivolous decision for her to have to deal with. The nun was behaving with, not only appropriate medical attention, but with compassion towards the woman-giving her a chance to be a loving mother to her children, to bring them up and teach them values and teach them about painful choices. This is the type of decision that gets made in male-based religions everywhere around the world. If God created man and woman-shouldn't the decision making process be equal? What kinds of stresses would have been brought on that family if the mother had to die? It's a pity that nun hadn't been a child-molesting priest, she would've been transferred to a new parish and put in charge of youth sports.

[Nightcrawler]

You're right, Jimmy. The woman referenced in this blog did NOT go to that hospital because she wanted an abortion. She went there because she was critically ill and feared not only for her own life, but for the loss of her baby; this was a wanted pregnancy that she had every intention of carrying to term.

Unfortunately, after she got there, it was determined that she was going to die if the pregnancy was not aborted *immediately.* Further, the fetus would die, too; there was no way of saving it, as it was only 11 weeks gestation. This was a lose-lose situation. The situation was so extraordinary that the hospital made a special exception and performed the abortion so that, at least, the birthmother could live. At least they were able to save ONE life.

The position of the Catholic church is that the mother should have been allowed to die along with the fetus. For them to say that and then claim to be "pro-life" is hypocrisy at its worst.

[Greta]

What this woman and her report attempt to do is force those with religious beliefs to stop practicing their religion in the public square. When the constitution was set up, it was clear that the intent of the writers was to protect relgions from the government passing laws which took away their right to practice that religion in their lives.
Catholic hospitals make up a low percentage of hospitals in this country which means that there are clear choices for everyone. If it is clear that the Catholic hospital will follow Catholic ethics and teaching, then those who disagree can go elsewhere. What this woman and her report want to do is force her belief on everyone. If I as a Catholic chose to go to a secular hospital, I cannot complain that they are performing abortions in the hospital according to the law. Why is it that she and the government should be able to have laws that deny my religious belief and options? After all, did we not have the debate that no federal dollars can be used to support abortion in the last ObamaCare debate? Did Obama not assure us and the various Catholic groups agree that federal dollars could not be used for abortion? Obama signed that executive order barring use of federal funds for abortion to get the pro life democrat votes. If this is the law of the land to protect the right of the unborn, then why is it now right to allow Catholic Hospitals to follow their teaching?

[woof-woof]

As they say, extraordinary cases lead to bad policy. They may have made a bad decision with regard to Sister McBride (I don't know anything about her case.), but it would be foolish to do anything that would push the Catholic Church out of healthcare. The Catholic Church is not required to subsidize hospitals at all. Society gets a lot more help out of these hospitals than harm.

[Defend]

Catholic nuns - baby killers.

Who'd a thunk it?

[Will]

Greta, this is a matter of ethics, not law. No one is suggesting that Catholic health centers should be forced to provide abortions. What people are saying is that it is unethical to deny a mother in danger an abortion.

If you want to play the numbers game--

Mother has abortion = 1 dead fetus

Mother does not have abortion = 1 dead fetus, 1 dead mother, 4 motherless children