9 years ago
5
Catholic hospital denies Michigan woman treatment on religious grounds
Mann agreed to undergo the procedure at her hospital to prevent the risk of a future pregnancy exacerbating her tumor. But the hospital, Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, Michigan, declined on religious grounds. The case is part of a trend that some experts are calling a burgeoning public health crisis, as a greater proportion of patients rely on religious hospitals for medical care.
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Why the hell does religion have any authority in medical care? Why the hell is anyone letting them have authority in medical care? I can understand voting on certain issues such as abortion having religious background to it, but a "catholic hospital"? With how extremist some catholics/christians are with modern medicine, those two words almost feel like antonyms.
I can think of two reasons off the top of my head:
1. The Catholic Church has a long history of running hospitals as a vehicle to promote their beliefs and membership, so it's developed a reputation (unjustified, in my opinion) for compassion.
2. The more funds come from Catholic organizations the less funding is required by local and state governments. The Church gets subsidized advertising while running health care according to religious dogma rather than strictly secular medical theory.
I seriously think it's time we re-examine this relationship.
Those two reasons do make a lot of sense and help put things in perspective, but I definitely agree things need to change. I could understand a private catholic hospital having the authority on what they will or will-not do (which is what I thought the original title was implying), but if there's even a penny of funding coming from the government (which from the sound of the article saying they're merging with regular hospitals, there is) then no single religious doctrine should have authority over medical policies.
The American Atheists group is lobbying for new legislation to require health care providers to inform patients, insurance companies, and government agencies about any medical procedures and services the provider chooses not to perform because of the provider’s religious beliefs. It wouldn't solve the problem of people being unable to find health care that isn't restricted by religious dogma, but it would at least help us map how widespread the problem has become.
Good!