Posted on 12/03/2013 1:28:29 PM PST by NYer
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a sweeping federal lawsuit against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops over its ethical guidelines for Roman Catholic hospitals, arguing the directives were to blame for negligent care of a pregnant woman who went into early labor and whose baby died within hours.
The ACLU alleges the bishops were negligent because their religious directives prevented Tamesha Means from being told that continuing her pregnancy posed grave risks to her health and her child was not likely to survive. She was treated at Mercy Health Muskegon, a Catholic hospital in Michigan.
"It's not just about one woman," said Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan ACLU. "It's about a nationwide policy created by nonmedical professionals putting patients in harms' way."
The lawsuit comes amid a wave of mergers between Catholic and secular hospital systems throughout the United States, raising questions about how much religious identity the hospitals will retain and whether they will provide medical services that conflict with church teaching. Advocates for abortion rights and others fear the mergers will limit access to a full range of medical care for women. About 13 percent of U.S. hospitals are Catholic.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops' conference in Washington, said it hadn't been officially notified of the lawsuit and couldn't comment until it received the complaint. Neither Mercy Health Muskegon nor its corporate parent, Trinity Health in Livonia, would comment Monday. Earlier this year, Trinity Health and Catholic Health East completed a merger, combining more than 80 nonprofit hospitals across about 21 states.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
They’re not suing because the baby died, but because the woman claimed that she would have had less pain if they had offered her an abortion.
No thank you. That would be just what they’d love to provoke, so Catholics can be labeled as a terror group.
Whose side are you on?
First do no harm. This oath alone should preclude 99% of abortions.
Actually, the Obama regime is arguing that the First Amendment is UnConstitutional and the ACLU is trying to argue the point from an angle that puts the fascist view in the news before the case is argued before the USSC on grounds the fascists know is far less likely to go their way.
It's a prelude to arguing regulatory rights for the sake of uniform treatment availability supersede individual rights should King Barry lose by arguing that BarryCare doesn't violate the First Amendment. I was expecting the ACLU to file a suit against a physician or group of physicians for not prescribing contraceptives or some kinds of contraceptives first but apparently the Barry crowd is more worried than I thought they were about how they'll fare in the USSC meaning they're actually worried industrial scale infanticide might be interrupted or greatly reduced.
I should have known that just like the Third Reich keeping the trains to the camps running while hard pressed combat troops were rationing artillery rounds due to a lack of rail transport, our own democrat fascists would put the highest priority on keeping the ghoulish abortuaries running even if that leads to rationing contraceptives available to hard pressed tramps.
JMHO
Who pays the ACLU to do this? I can’t believe they do it for nothing!
What gives with the ACLU? Catholic hate, is that it?
Expecting a Catholic hospital to perform abortions is like expecting a Cadilac dealer to have new Fords on the floor.
Why didn’t she go to one of the Muslim, heathen or Quickie Lube (CA only) hospitals.
No ... just for Catholic doctrines.
One of my neighbors is a female Presbyterian minister. When her daughter graduated from Berkley last year, she helped her obtain a volunteer internship with the ACLU! My jaw dropped .. I was totally dumbfounded.
And the O admin is now fining hospitals that are non profits for giving health care to those without insurance…
the world has gone mad
guess you have never heard of an ectopic pregnancy
And that about sums it up.
The Hyprocritical Oath (Oath of Hipprocrates) ALREADY prohibits abortions, and has, for more than 2,000 years!
She wanted an abortion at Mercy Health? I want a bacon cheeseburger from the Cedars-Sinai cafeteria. Good luck with that.
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