A Catholic hospital was sold. Reproductive care returned immediately.

submitted 5 days ago by

edited 5 days ago

https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/a-catholic-hospital-was-sold-reproductive

What made the sale stand out is that these things usually happen the other way around. According to the health advocacy group Community Catalyst, as of 2020, the 10 largest Catholic health care systems now “own or control 394 short-term acute care hospitals.” Four of the 10 largest health care systems in the country are affiliated with the Catholic Church. More than 30% of births in the U.S. now happen in a Catholic hospital.

And that’s been a major problem because Catholic hospitals play by different rules, not dictated by what’s best for patients.

Their directives don’t come from medical professionals, but rather the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. And since anything involving contraception is forbidden in the faith, even a normal procedure like tubal ligation isn’t permitted. This rule applies even if future pregnancies would put the woman’s life in danger.

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velma@sh.itjust.works

5 days ago

A lot of people know that Catholic hospitals won’t perform abortions, but fewer know how radical that policy is. Even if you set aside elective abortions, patients who have ectopic pregnancies (and whose lives are at risk) would be in danger if they went to a Catholic institution.

A normal hospital could give that patient a drug to induce an abortion… or just remove that fertilized egg through surgery. Not Catholic hospitals, though. They might make doctors remove a woman’s entire fallopian tube to prevent something fatal, reducing her ability to get pregnant in the future, even though it’s medically unnecessary, because that’s what their faith dictates.

What if a woman has a miscarriage? That’s already emotionally draining, but Catholic hospitals make things worse. Normal hospitals might induce an abortion to make sure the embryonic tissue is removed from a woman’s body to prevent infection. Not Catholic hospitals. They require doctors to wait until a woman is infected before providing treatment.

What about contraception? Catholic hospitals won’t dispense it. If a victim of sexual assault needs birth control immediately, and a Catholic hospital happens to be the one nearby, it may not help her. If there’s any chance the victim is already pregnant when the hospital sees her, that help is even less likely.

Catholic hospitals also won’t perform vasectomies on men because those would interfere with natural pregnancies in the future.

Nor will they help women who want to get pregnant by using a sperm donor.

They also won’t help couples use a surrogatemother to give birth to their biological child because that would also be seen as “gravely immoral.”

Catholic hospitals are equally awful at the other end of life. What if you’re an elderly person who is dying of a terminal disease, constantly in pain, and eager to end life on your own terms, peacefully, while you are able to make those kinds of decisions? Even in states where euthanasia, or death with dignity, is legal, too damn bad. You will just have to suffer. They will not assist you in those cases.

Got caught up in these types of decisions with my first pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. Fuck the Catholic Church.

CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone

they/them 5 days ago

Fuck Catholic hospitals. They’re intentionally hard to avoid, and the care is always fucked. I say this as someone who unfortunately had to get two surgeries in a Catholic hospital. This was right after they were caught not caring about the literally oozing and damaged beds in the labor and delivery unit.

No joke: https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/least-its-kind-gross-mattresses-tacoma-hospital-oozing-fluids/JBNFDKLBPNHNFHGYMYG3RQ7EC4/