Report: 1 in 6 hospital beds in U.S. is in a Catholic institution, restricting reproductive care

[trotsky]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/05/05/report-1-in-6-hospital-beds-in-u-s-is-in-a-catholic-hospital-restricting-reproductive-care/

One in every 6 hospital beds in the country is in a Catholic hospital system, according to a report released Thursday that suggests the consolidation of health-care systems puts more patients than ever in hospitals where the medical procedures available to them may be dictated by faith.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops advises that Catholic hospitals should not perform abortions or sterilizations and should not promote contraception to patients. Although hospitals vary in how closely they follow the Catholic directives, the American Civil Liberties Union and MergerWatch, which drafted the new report together, expressed concern that patients in many areas of the country find it difficult to access certain forms of care.

The report quoted doctors who said they saw patients become gravely ill when hospitals refused to terminate their nonviable pregnancies, causing infection to set in. It also quoted women who wanted a tubal ligation to prevent future pregnancies at the same time that they delivered babies, when the procedure is easiest, but were told that they would have to go to another hospital to get the procedure separately because their births were at Catholic centers.

...

Last year, the ACLU sued two of the nation’s largest Catholic health systems, Trinity Health in Michigan and Dignity Health in California, alleging that the health systems violated a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care and discriminated against women. And earlier this year, it sued the federal government for allegedly allowing the bishops to deny critical health services to human trafficking victims. The ACLU was joined in its suit against Dignity Health by the California Medical Association, which represents 41,000 doctors.

Celibate old men dictating medical procedures for women. Every last one of them (and the people who defend this bullshit) can kiss my ass.

[safeinOhio]

1. I think 7 day Adventist

Hospitals are the only other people that preform abortions. You don't hear much about that and I don't hear about anyone trying to shut them down. Strange world we live in.

[trotsky]

2. Oh, are you suggesting that anyone opposed to a church dictating medical procedures for everyone...

is just an anti-Catholic bigot?

Because I oppose any group of religious assholes who restrict medical treatment options.

[rug]

3. If the shoe fits . . . .

[safeinOhio]

6. but do you support

religious groups that support medical treatment options?

[trotsky]

8. Nope, not when they come with restrictions.

I do not support efforts to restrict access to reproductive choice, and I never will.

[Lordquinton]

7. Do they enforce that belief on others?

Do they buy up regional chains limiting access to others as an end-run around discrimination laws?

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

4. Surely, some of those are Catholic in name only?

I would hope so, anyway.

[trotsky]

5. Nope, Catholic according to their religious dictates.

No voluntary sterilization procedures.

Abortion only as an absolute last resort when the woman's life is in danger - however there have already been cases where women died because the Catholic hospital waited much too long.

There are horrible people who think that women should just pick a different hospital if they don't like those rules. Some of them even post on DU.

[trotsky]

9. There Are Nearly 550 Catholic Hospitals That Can Deny Women Emergency Reproductive Care

(Another report on the same study)

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/05/catholic-hospitals-deny-emergency-reproductive-care-induce-miscarriage.html

A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union says that more than 500 hospitals in the United States now have Catholic affiliations that prevent them from inducing labor before fetal viability, offering emergency contraception, or performing tubal ligation.

...

There have been cases of women miscarrying who were bleeding or had high fevers, but they had to wait until their symptoms were severe enough to be induced, or they had to be transferred to a secular hospital that would intervene, because induction before fetal viability would violate the ban on abortion. One woman who was miscarrying a fetus that wouldn't survive couldn't get her hospital to induce her, even though she was 22 weeks along — they waited until she was hemorrhaging at 27 weeks, and never told her that she could have had an abortion elsewhere.

Other women who want tubal ligation after they deliver a baby make plans to drive themselves to the nearest secular hospital instead, which could be in another county. That is, of course, only if they know in advance that the closest hospital won't perform the procedure. Some women learn that fact when they're already in labor and then need to undergo surgery later. And can you imagine going to a hospital after being sexually assaulted only to be told that they won't provide emergency contraception?

Catholic hospitals' reproductive-care fails have made news before, but this ACLU report aims to show the extent of the problem. The group also calls on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue a statement that federal law requires all hospitals to provide emergency reproductive care regardless of affiliation and investigate violations thus far. We hope they'll listen.

That there are some on DU who don't think this is a problem, makes me very sad.

[AtheistCrusader]

10. Washington State is in bad shape on this issue. Those fuckers have poached every major regional hosp

ital except Overlake.

http://crosscut.com/2016/03/protect-womens-rights-in-hospitals/

[trotsky]

11. Good thing women can just drive to Oregon or California when they're in labor then, huh?

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. I remember that one.

I also remember the time someone said there's no difference between refusing to perform an MRI because you don't have the equipment and refusing to perform a tubal ligation because you don't want to.

No difference at all.

[AtheistCrusader]

13. It's not bad, it's like... 3 hours to Oregon given one stop for a pee break.

In Washington of all places, for this shit to happen.

I'd say I'm a little curious why the Catholic Church is so all-fired interested in owning PacNW hospitals in the first place, but this is their solution to Roe vs. Wade. If they can't outlaw it, they'll make it unavailable.

[trotsky]

14. "If they can't outlaw it, they'll make it unavailable."

Exactly. Same tactic of the religious wingnuts in red states - just one obstacle after another until they've effectively banned it.