ClydeR
01-21-2011, 11:52 AM
The Catholic hospitals are doing exactly the right thing. If a woman needs a tubal ligation, then the doctor who performs her Caesarean section shouldn't be forced against the hospital's religion to perform the tubal ligation at the same time. She can have another surgery later at a different hospital for that.
The same thing goes for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. If you have one of those, you should go to a different hospital. You can't force hospitals to allow their employees to do things that are against the hospital's religion.
Economic pressures are spurring greater consolidation in the hospital industry, prompting religiously affiliated institutions to take over or merge with secular ones, imposing church directives on them. At the same time, the drive to remain competitive has led some medical centers to evade the directives. Alongside those economic forces, changes in the church hierarchy have led increasingly conservative bishops to exert more influence over Catholic hospitals.
More... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/19/AR2011011907539.html)
Such conflicts are likely to intensify as new flash points arise, such as the spread of infertility treatments considered taboo by the church and the possible availability of therapies derived from human embryonic stem cells.
Although the issue has erupted at a variety of institutions, women's health advocates are especially alarmed about Catholic hospitals, a leading source of health care in the United States.
"Physicians are being told they must refuse to provide certain services even when they believe their refusal would harm their patient and violate established medical standards of care," said Lois Uttley, who heads MergerWatch, a New York-based group that fights the takeover of secular medical centers by religiously affiliated hospitals.
Jessica Graham, 33, delivered her second child through a Caesarean in September at the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center in Arizona, but she had to schedule a second operation to have her tubes tied after the hospital decided to become part of a Catholic hospital group and ordered a stop to all tubal ligations.
"It's very unsettling," said Graham, whose kidney problems increase the risk of another pregnancy or another surgery. "Now they are going to have to back inside my body again and cut me open again."
Of even greater concern to many doctors and advocates are conflicts over treatments for women who have miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies.
Standard care for ectopic pregnancies, which are life-threatening, is to inject the drug methotrexate or to remove the embryo surgically while leaving the fallopian tube intact, both procedures that are intended to preserve fertility. But some Catholic hospitals refuse to perform either and will extract the embryo only by taking out the fallopian tube.
For miscarriages in which the fetus is not expelled quickly, doctors often use drugs or surgical procedures to protect the woman from potentially fatal infections and bleeding. But if the fetus still has a heartbeat, some Catholic hospitals refuse to intervene. And the patient has to go to another hospital, sometimes hours away, or wait for the heart to stop.
"The fact that this happens is simply outrageous and inexcusable," said Jill Morrison of the National Women's Law Center, which is releasing a 30-page report documenting the impact of the directives through interviews with 25 physicians and administrators at 16 hospitals in 10 states .
The same thing goes for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. If you have one of those, you should go to a different hospital. You can't force hospitals to allow their employees to do things that are against the hospital's religion.
Economic pressures are spurring greater consolidation in the hospital industry, prompting religiously affiliated institutions to take over or merge with secular ones, imposing church directives on them. At the same time, the drive to remain competitive has led some medical centers to evade the directives. Alongside those economic forces, changes in the church hierarchy have led increasingly conservative bishops to exert more influence over Catholic hospitals.
More... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/19/AR2011011907539.html)
Such conflicts are likely to intensify as new flash points arise, such as the spread of infertility treatments considered taboo by the church and the possible availability of therapies derived from human embryonic stem cells.
Although the issue has erupted at a variety of institutions, women's health advocates are especially alarmed about Catholic hospitals, a leading source of health care in the United States.
"Physicians are being told they must refuse to provide certain services even when they believe their refusal would harm their patient and violate established medical standards of care," said Lois Uttley, who heads MergerWatch, a New York-based group that fights the takeover of secular medical centers by religiously affiliated hospitals.
Jessica Graham, 33, delivered her second child through a Caesarean in September at the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center in Arizona, but she had to schedule a second operation to have her tubes tied after the hospital decided to become part of a Catholic hospital group and ordered a stop to all tubal ligations.
"It's very unsettling," said Graham, whose kidney problems increase the risk of another pregnancy or another surgery. "Now they are going to have to back inside my body again and cut me open again."
Of even greater concern to many doctors and advocates are conflicts over treatments for women who have miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies.
Standard care for ectopic pregnancies, which are life-threatening, is to inject the drug methotrexate or to remove the embryo surgically while leaving the fallopian tube intact, both procedures that are intended to preserve fertility. But some Catholic hospitals refuse to perform either and will extract the embryo only by taking out the fallopian tube.
For miscarriages in which the fetus is not expelled quickly, doctors often use drugs or surgical procedures to protect the woman from potentially fatal infections and bleeding. But if the fetus still has a heartbeat, some Catholic hospitals refuse to intervene. And the patient has to go to another hospital, sometimes hours away, or wait for the heart to stop.
"The fact that this happens is simply outrageous and inexcusable," said Jill Morrison of the National Women's Law Center, which is releasing a 30-page report documenting the impact of the directives through interviews with 25 physicians and administrators at 16 hospitals in 10 states .