California Catholic hospital apologizes after lawsuit claims it denied pregnant woman care

[Michie]

The head of a Catholic hospital network in California has issued an apology after the state’s attorney general filed a lawsuit claiming Providence St. Joseph Hospital refused emergency care to a pregnant woman whose water broke prematurely at 15 weeks.

“We are heartbroken over the experience this patient had while in our care and reached out to her today in an effort to express our profound apologies,” said the chief executive of Providence Northern California Service Area, Garry Olney, in a statement addressed to hospital employees that was provided to CNA on Wednesday.

The lawsuit filed on Monday in Humboldt County Superior Court claims that Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka violated several California state laws by allegedly refusing to perform abortive procedures on a patient, Anna Nusslock, 36, whom doctors diagnosed with a rare condition, preterm premature rupture of the membranes (PPROM).

Continued below.

California Catholic hospital apologizes after lawsuit claims it denied pregnant woman care

“While elective abortions are not performed in Providence facilities, we do not deny emergency care,” a Providence St. Joseph Hospital spokesperson told CNA.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

 

[RileyG]

Whoever said abortion is health care is out of their mind. Ugh. More propaganda from California. SMH.

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

Whoever said abortion is health care is out of their mind. Ugh. More propaganda from California. SMH.

Hi Riles:

Fun facts on this case from the Orange County Registry, via the New York Times

State sues Catholic hospital in California for illegally denying emergency abortion

You have a woman who presents at your Emergency Room, 15 weeks pregnant with twins, hemorrhaging, losing amniotic fluid and serious danger of infection and loss of future ability to have children. Your best physician's opinion is that one twin has no chance of survival, and the other's chances are close to zero.

The best option, according to your best physicians, is : get this soon to be decaying tissue out of this woman as quickly as possible to save her life and future ability to have children.

But to do that, you're going to have to drive to another hospital because we don't take any actions on this kind of thing because abortion isn't medical care, in our way of thinking.

Meaning no disrespect, but ....

.....why did we (as Catholics) even bother investing a first aid kit let alone a modern Emergency Room in a hospital. We could have spent the money on a homeless shelter and done a better job.

If we're going to turn away bleeding, seriously endangered people because we're too squeamish (no, that sounds pejorative, um...) scrupulous (better word) to make a hard-headed medical decision when one is called for, we need to get out of the business of running hospitals.

I mean, Christian Scientists have reading rooms, not health clinics, for good reasons.

 

[RileyG]

Hi Riles:

Fun facts on this case from the Orange County Registry, via the New York Times



You have a woman who presents at your Emergency Room, 15 weeks pregnant with twins, hemorrhaging, losing amniotic fluid and serious danger of infection and loss of future ability to have children. Your best physician's opinion is that one twin has no chance of survival, and the other's chances are close to zero.

The best option, according to your best physicians, is : get this soon to be decaying tissue out of this woman as quickly as possible to save her life and future ability to have children.

But to do that, you're going to have to drive to another hospital because we don't take any actions on this kind of thing because abortion isn't medical care, in our way of thinking.

Meaning no disrespect, but ....

.....why did we (as Catholics) even bother investing a first aid kit let alone a modern Emergency Room in a hospital. We could have spent the money on a homeless shelter and done a better job.

If we're going to turn away bleeding, seriously endangered people because we're too squeamish (no, that sounds pejorative, um...) scrupulous (better word) to make a hard-headed medical decision when one is called for, we need to get out of the business of running hospitals.

I mean, Christian Scientists have reading rooms, not health clinics, for good reasons.

That’s really too bad, I definitely don’t disagree with you, Charlie.

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

That’s really too bad, I definitely don’t disagree with you, Charlie.

Riles:

I love you like a cyber brother, but honestly, I'm confused.

Help me here. (Seriously, help me here)

You don't see abortion as being health care. Except you don't disagree with me.

Where are we NOT disagreeing ?

Because, see, I think abortion IS a healthcare issue.

(I'll tell you a little secret)

The worst thing the good brothers and sisters of the Benedictine order EVER did to me was teach me how to do my own research into Catholic dogma. They actively encouraged it. "Learn how to read an encyclical", "The Bible is only PART of the theology of the Church, you HAVE to understand the rest."

I can still hear Sister Jeron tell me to do my own research in religion class, and it's been 50 years......

You start doing research and you start understanding mammalian reproduction (especially in primates) is NOT a sure thing. The natural failure rate in humans (who, among other issues, have an evolutionary problem with the size of their brains at term being too large to pass through a birth canal safely) is OVER 25% with most of that failure occurring before Week 3.

About 1 in 5 human beings with souls dying in utrero before Week 3. This is going to make cocktail parties in heaven REALLY dull. Not a lot of people with a lot of live experience to converse about.

But that's not my problem (Well, not currently anyway)

My current problem is this:

Everything I read about this subject tells me abortion is a necessary part of women's health care. It needed as an option when it's necessary.

I have to contrast that is this: Most Catholic theologians will tell you abortion is always objectively evil.

IF we, as Catholics, can't find a way to help women who desperately need help, then we need to get out of the healthcare business.

Sell the hospitals, tell young people not to get into medicine....

....just leave.

Because we are of no help. We can be of no help. Our morals won't let us.

Except: (And here is where things go haywire.)

The good Benedictines also taught me that sins of omission are worse than sins of commission. Failure to do something when we could is worse than doing something bad. We're SUPPOSED to DO SOMETHING.

....and now I'm stuck.

So,

where do we disagree, where's the flaw in my logic here ?

 

[RileyG]

Riles:

I love you like a cyber brother, but honestly, I'm confused.

Help me here. (Seriously, help me here)

You don't see abortion as being health care. Except you don't disagree with me.

Where are we NOT disagreeing ?

Because, see, I think abortion IS a healthcare issue.

(I'll tell you a little secret)

The worst thing the good brothers and sisters of the Benedictine order EVER did to me was teach me how to do my own research into Catholic dogma. They actively encouraged it. "Learn how to read an encyclical", "The Bible is only PART of the theology of the Church, you HAVE to understand the rest."

I can still hear Sister Jeron tell me to do my own research in religion class, and it's been 50 years......

You start doing research and you start understanding mammalian reproduction (especially in primates) is NOT a sure thing. The natural failure rate in humans (who, among other issues, have an evolutionary problem with the size of their brains at term being too large to pass through a birth canal safely) is OVER 25% with most of that failure occurring before Week 3.

About 1 in 5 human beings with souls dying in utrero before Week 3. This is going to make cocktail parties in heaven REALLY dull. Not a lot of people with a lot of live experience to converse about.

But that's not my problem (Well, not currently anyway)

My current problem is this:

Everything I read about this subject tells me abortion is a necessary part of women's health care. It needed as an option when it's necessary.

I have to contrast that is this: Most Catholic theologians will tell you abortion is always objectively evil.

IF we, as Catholics, can't find a way to help women who desperately need help, then we need to get out of the healthcare business.

Sell the hospitals, tell young people not to get into medicine....

....just leave.

Because we are of no help. We can be of no help. Our morals won't let us.

Except: (And here is where things go haywire.)

The good Benedictines also taught me that sins of omission are worse than sins of commission. Failure to do something when we could is worse than doing something bad. We're SUPPOSED to DO SOMETHING.

....and now I'm stuck.

So,

where do we disagree, where's the flaw in my logic here ?

Health care ONLY to save the life of the mother. Clear?

 

[RileyG]

@Cosmic Charlie, thank you very much for your kind words, contributions, and detailed answer.

I very much appreciate your kindness

May God bless you abundantly

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

Health care ONLY to save the life of the mother. Clear?

The mother's life in the case we are talking about wasn't in direct danger until it was almost too late to save her life.

A woman's life becomes more dangerous the moment she becomes pregnant. Just being pregnant put her life in more danger that if she were not.

Where do we draw the line to this wide and vague statement that, frankly, isn't clear at all to me. (Or for that matter, any of the doctors in any of the state where these laws apply).

And what moral imperative, oh great Riles, makes the baby's life more important, on spec, than the woman's ?

A mother of 4 who is pregnant has a lot of lives to consider besides the one in her body.

That statement sounds so hard and clear.

It's not.

Look, we're all Catholics here on a Catholic board with rather severe restrictions on this subject. If you can liv

e with "Only to save the life of the mother" you're on great moral ground on this little board.

Unfortunately for me, I was taught to go out and see what was going on and how to do research. Like I said, the worst thing the Benedictine Order ever did to me. That statement to me is meaningless.