A Catholic hospital decided to ignore its theological tenets on Monday and agreed to sterilize a woman after she will give birth next month.
San Francisco based Catholic hospital Mercy Medical Center, part of California’s biggest private health-care network Dignity Health, decided to give permission to the sterilization of a mother after American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit that has expressed a statement on the case.
Mercy Medical Center initially declined the pass for sterilization in April because the US bishop officials stated direct sterilization is essentially an act of evil. Catholic health institutions have been previously threatened by the ACLU for not properly informing their patients in this situation that abortion is an option for their dire medical condition.
One spokesman of Dignity Health told press that the decision made in Rachel Miller’s situation would not further affect their ethical and religious code and that religiously-affiliated hospitals will always operate under this policy in US. She added that tubal ligations will not be performed in American Catholic hospitals, but that the physician will help the patient make preparations at an alternative facility that would provide such accommodations.
Elizabeth Gill, attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union declares that even if they are grateful that the Catholic Hospital has eventually agreed to provide Ms. Miller medical care, the conflict between the interests of their patients and the policy of the Catholic health-care system remains a reality that should not be neglected. She further added that institutions that promise to offer medical services to the public should not function under the directive of religion and discriminate what the health-care system has to offer.
Rachel Miller, working as an attorney, joined the American Civil Liberties Union in order to protest the decision of the hospital to deny her a tubal ligation followed by a cesarean section based on sex discrimination. She criticized the hospital for prioritizing theological doctrine over patient health.
The number of Catholic hospitals from United States that ban sterilization procedures are on the rise, according to a chart featured in ProPublica earlier this year. This type of hospitals are funded by the state as well as by the church.
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