Catholic hospital under fire for denying sterilizations

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Dec 7, 3:59 PM EST
Catholic hospital under fire for denying sterilizations

REDDING, Calif. (AP) -- A Northern California Catholic hospital is under fire again for refusing to allow doctors to perform sterilizations on two pregnant women after they give birth, citing religious reasons.

The two women may go to court unless Mercy Medical Center changes its mind by Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday (http://sfg.ly/1IA6wac ).

Mercy Medical, which is owned by Dignity Health, says its general policy is not to provide sterilization unless necessary for the "cure or alleviation of a present and serious pathology."

The American Civil Liberties Union and the nationwide Physicians for Reproductive Health say California law doesn't allow theology to trump patient health.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TUBAL_LIGATION_LAWSUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-07-15-59-49

[ciaobaby]

1. Oh Catholics

They have no problem hiding in plain site, or just relocating, their many pedophile priests and allow them to continue to prey on children.
Yet they feel fine denying women a healthcare procedure that can only result in a better life for both women and their children.

I saw through the hypocrisy of the Catholic church many many years ago.

Sorry for the women who's access to a hospital is so limited.

[Dawson Leery]

4. I renouced my membership in the Catholic Church in 2007.

I have had more than enough of their bullnonsense.
The Catholic Hospitals are growing in size and threat as mergers have become quite common.

[Drahthaardogs]

11. Sorry going to a Catholic hospital and expecting

This procedure is like going to a Chop house for a vegetarian meal. WTF are they thinking?

[TexasBushwhacker]

2. Cut them off from Medicaid and Medicare dollars n/t

[hopemountain]

3. what about women involuntarily sterilized

at northern california & oregon non catholic hospitals? yes. this does happen to women of color - native indigenous women and migrant workers.

[dembotoz]

5. years ago when i lived in a small town in wisconsin

there was a story about 2 mentally challenged adults who were getting married.

the story was that their main trait that they shared is that they both loved to fuck like rabbits....anytime all the time...
offspring would have been a disaster.

so the word was that under the guise of some treatment, a local doctor make sure the woman was sterile.
The couple loved to talk about how they were trying to start a family....

i do not know if the story was true or not but i do know that medical privacy was not a priority.
At the main clinic it was pretty common knowledge that any diagnosis made at the clinic would be spread like the flu within 24 hours.

[passiveporcupine]

6. I can't find any record of this still happening.

Do you have a link?

[hopemountain]

7. the women i speak with

on the reservation and in the migrant camps do not report to law enforcement. they keep it either to themselves or among themselves. but yes, this is still happening. i apologize for leaving out another group of marginalized of women: the mentally ill and mentally challenged women. you are aware (?), that women do not discover what has been done involuntarily to them until they try to learn why they are not conceiving. doctors who perpetrate this crime against women do not report when they do this. so, no, you will not find many links to this continuing or in hospital statistics/reports because it is illegal - so not reported. but, you do know this, right?

[passiveporcupine]

8. Until there is evidence, and not just anecdote, I don't "Know" anything.

Sorry. If this is really happening, there must be some kind of group working to expose this.

[hopemountain]

9. this truly saddens me.

you deny because it is not in a study or reported in the media or because it is what you call "anecdotal".

their stories and their own voices are all disenfranchised women have - and even those voices and stories are only spoken when it may be safe.

i am honored women disclosed their stories to me. i listened. it would be presumptuous of me and disrespectful to even suggest a more public or progressive awareness program to bring their issues or create a "cause" on their behalf. non profit campaigns do not work for disenfranchised women in these cases because anonymity is key.

further, because women who are sterilized are exploited while anesthetized, they do not have a written record or account somewhere for cynics such as yourself to "verify". they have their stories, their word. they know their stories are not enough for skeptics such as yourself who require "proof". and, as for prosecuting or campaigning or activating their stories for publication or whatever, these vulnerable women are even less interested in such an option for many reasons in addition to anonymity - such as ostracism, shunning or other shaming from their family or tribe or community.

their stories remain their stories and that is all i am able to offer here. but they are true and they do happen - still - today.

[passiveporcupine]

10. I am not denying that it "could" happen, but that it's not a legal procedure in Oregon

Without the women's consent (or someone who has legal authority to speak for them). So, how are these doctors getting away with it? What kinds of clinics are allowing these procedures?

And if it is happening without the patients authorization, someone needs to work with these women to report it and get it stopped, or it will never stop.

Just saying you are sad is not going to fix anything.

[hopemountain]

12. wow. what is your problem? your response

saddened me. "just saying you are sad is not going to fix anything". when did i say anything about "fixing anything"?

i shared a truth - a bit of their story. this is a small part of my activism - spreading awareness. yet, you see fit to attack and attempt to belittle me for my tiny part.

of course it is illegal to sterilize a woman without her consent! how insulting of you to imply i do not know this. however, the women were not aware they had been sterilized. it is their story - not mine.

how and why do you question whether they gave consent? do you think they would be hurting if they were aware of such? the sterilizations of native american women i reference occurred in california, the migrant woman's sterilization occurred in oregon. just, wow. have you no sensitivity nor compassion for the exploitation and crimes committed against marginalized women? your profile indicates your are female as am i. i am stunned by your responses.

[passiveporcupine]

13. I think you are taking my position a bit too emotionally

You first jump into a thread about not be able to get sterilized when you want it, and talk about "women" who are still being sterilized against their will or knowledge, in Cali and Oregon. Fine...if you say so it must be true. But apparently it doesn't happen very often, or it would be a "story" in the news and something would be done about it. It IS ILLEGAL. And if it still happens occasionally, so do other atrocities, by doctors. I have had a wrong surgery performed by a doctor and nothing was ever done to him to prevent him from doing it to someone else. Things like that happen. There are good doctors and bad and morals get in the way of ethics for some people. It's not only Oregon and California this can happen in.

If this really happened to these women and they want children, I am sorry for them. I too cannot have children (for medical reasons caused by someone's bad decisions), and I wish I could have. It's sad. But if's it's a big enough problem, and is still going on today, someone needs to step up and make it public...and that is not by posting about it on a blog, but going to a news source to get some journalist interested in it.

I did not insult you. You are the one jumping all over me for not being as emotional as you are over this. I never questioned whether they gave consent. You are so emotional you can't even read my posts without overreacting.

Now, I'm done with this argument. This is a sub-thread that never should have happened. It's a total distraction from what this thread is supposed to be about.

[hopemountain]

14. you and i speak a completely different language

yes, i use emotion based vocabulary. i was taught to come from my heart, foremost.

in my culture we value emotion because it reflects a balanced heart, mind and spirit. you do not value emotion the same as i and you express emotion as something to be disdained or a weakness. it is also one of the attacks from the far right at liberals. it is all very different than my perspective of what is meaningful in life.

yes, i also have a bias about your attitude. i made an effort to be respectful. in the future, i will try to remember your handle so that i may ignore your posts. i interpret your attitude toward my posts to be insulting and demeaning. so be it. your judgement of how i am different from you is what saddens me. mitakuye oyasin.