We do not know how often such decisions come up in Catholic hospitals. Nor do we know if any go the other way -- that is, the beliefs of the Olmsteds of the Church prevail and discharge is followed by a funeral. What we do know is that Catholic hospitals, charged with abiding by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, pose a real danger to women's health and lives.
Then go to a different hospital. This woman happened to be in Phoenix which, last time I checked, was a major metropolitan area with several hospitals.
In the article, she decribes how the Bishop had no sympathy for the "dying" woman. The woman was 11 weeks pregnant. Let me introduce you to the math of pregnancy. Week One starts on the first day of the last menstruation of the woman. So this child was probably about nine weeks into its actual development. Thus, it is about two inches in length and weighs about 1/3 of an ounce.
Remarkably, no stories have emerged about this woman "dying" - rather, they mention the potential complications that could arise because of her condition if she carried the child to full term. And there was enough time to convene a meeting of ethicists to discuss her case and determine their "duty" under the moral code imposed by the Catholic Church - in their jobs that they all took voluntarily - was to terminate the pregnancy.
And so Sister got excommunicated. And demoted. Bet she's more pissed about the former than the latter.
3 comments:
Would going to a different hospital really help? I assume that she was already in St. Joseph's, and that they had to decide upon her treatment. If they had discharged her to a secular hospital so that she could have an abortion, wouldn't that still incur an automatic excommunication?
And if they hadn't discharged her, and she died from her pregnancy, wouldn't the hospital have been liable?
Patrice,
My criticism is focused on the statement that "Catholic hospitals . . . pose a real danger to women's health and lives." A little sensational, don't you think?
This woman was not "dying." She had a potential threat to her as a result of her condition and her decision to become pregnant (no one has said anything about rape and if you have sex, you have to accept the fact that no method of birth control is 100% effective, so yes, it was her choice to become pregnant).
So a Catholic hospital would should say, "We will treat your condition but understand we will not directly kill your child. If the treatment causes the indirect death of the child, that is in line with Catholic teaching. If you wish to terminate the pregnancy, we cannot do that and you will have to find another facility."
No, instead the Bishop is a bully and any woman who walks into a Catholic hospital is putting her life at risk. Okay. Then go somewhere else.
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