A Brooklyn nurse claims she was forced to choose between her religious convictions and her job when Mount Sinai Hospital ordered her to assist in a late-term abortion against her will.The hospital even exaggerated the patient's condition and claimed the woman could die if the nurse, a devout Catholic, did not follow orders, the nurse alleges in a lawsuit.Bosses told the weeping Cenzon-DeCarlo the patient was 22 weeks into her pregnancy and had preeclampsia, a condition marked by high blood pressure that can lead to seizures or death if left untreated.But the nurse, the niece of a Filipino bishop, contends that the patient's life was not in danger. She argued that the patient was not even on magnesium therapy, a common treatment for preeclampsia, and did not have problems indicating an emergency.Her pleas were rejected, and instead she was threatened with career-ending charges of insubordination and patient abandonment, according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court.Feeling threatened, Cenzon-DeCarlo assisted in the procedure.
Galen Sherwin, the director of the New York Civil Liberties Union's Reproductive Rights Project, said the case centered on whether a medical emergency existed."The law provides protections for individuals who object to performing abortions, but at the same time, health-care professionals are not permitted to abandon patients," Sherwin said.
Mount Sinai is huge - don't tell me that they could not find another nurse.
As for the nurse, she will have to live with that guot, because, yes, she has sinned grieviously. This reminds me of a quote found on the blog of the Carolina Cannonball:
The time of persecution is coming. If brought up on charges of being a Catholic I hope there's enough evidence to convict me.
2 comments:
Would that she had chosen to lose her job rather than assist in the procedure. Not only would she have avoided the sin (which I believe is probably somewhat mitigated due to the duress, though to what extent I can't say), but she'd have an even better case against the hospital.
I hope and pray if I am ever faced with a choice between my livelihood and my faith, that I choose my faith. Proving once again why (a) we must not fail to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, and (b) pray without ceasing; otherwise, where are we going to get the grace to do the right thing?
I feel for the nurse, I really do.
But I would have said no. No way, no how. And I'd demand in writing the reason I was terminated.
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