One can understand that a person might be slightly deranged because of sorrow and grief, but this is an evil act.
This is the sort of thing that will occur more and more often.
Michigan woman sues U.S. Catholic bishops over miscarriage treatment
(Reuters) – A Michigan woman has sued the U.S. Catholic bishops, arguing that a Catholic hospital in Michigan denied her adequate treatment during a painful miscarriage because of a policy banning even the discussion of abortion as an option.
Tamesha Means said she went to a Catholic hospital in Muskegon, Michigan, the only hospital within 30 minutes of her home, when her water broke in December 2010 after only 18 weeks of pregnancy, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in Detroit federal court.
Despite her being in excruciating pain and with virtually no chance her pregnancy could survive, Mercy Health Partners told Means there was nothing it could do and did not tell Means that terminating her pregnancy was an option and the safest course for her condition, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit accuses the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops of creating health care directives “that cause pregnant women who are suffering from a miscarriage to be denied appropriate medical care, including information about their condition and treatment options.”
About 15 percent of the 800,000 beds in the U.S. are in a Catholic hospital, according to the Catholic Health Association.
[Sr. Carol Keehan and the CHA gave cover to catholic politicians to vote for Obamacare, the “AFFORDABLE” Care Act. Obamacare will result in the devastation of swaths of the economy and Catholic health providers. Sr. Keehan… GIVE BACK THAT PEN!] In those hospitals, medical professionals must comply with the bishops’ directives, which prohibit suggesting or performing abortions.
[…]
The American Civil Liberties Union is representing Means in the lawsuit. [Isn’t that ironic? Who cares about the civil liberties of CATHOLICS? Not the ACLU.]
[…]
What is the solution?
Is it time to close every Catholic hospital?
Another take from another liberal news source, MSNBC. Alas, it says that this may be the first case of its kind. And it shows that the ACLU has been trying to stick it to the Catholic Church in a related way in Colorado.
UPDATE:
A priest wrote to me. I will anonymize it so that he isn’t targeted and threatened:
I’m the pastor at ___, MI. During the summer, the Muskegon County Health Dept. and the Michigan ACLU had a conference at Muskegon Community College to inform women of there reproductive healthcare “rights” within religiously run institutions.
As soon as I saw the announcement, I said “this is a set-up”, as the only hospitals in Muskegon are Catholic hospitals.
Here’s the proof:
http://www.muskegonhealth.net/news/130710_knowyourrights.pdf
FYI–I saved a copy of the PDF in my iBook app.
Yes, this sure had the smell of “ambulance chaser” didn’t it?
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Well, this has all happened before…and Catholics still have their head in the sand about the real persecution which will come very soon. As in the Recusant times, the persecution will start with fines, and then, taking away of property, and then, prison sentences, and then, death.
I am surrounded by people who still idolize POTUS, which amazes me.
As you know, the death of the woman in Ireland, which had nothing to do with her denial of an abortion, led to the change in law. Now, all the Catholic hospitals in Ireland have to do abortions.
The incremental persecution started years ago and the pace of such will quicken. Either Catholics wake up, or they will wake up one day with no rights and one hard choice.
This seems to be an article written by someone who doesn’t have a grasp of the medicine involved in OB/Gyn. If her body was miscarrying (another name is “spontaneous abortion”) then I cannot imagine any OB would tell her there was nothing they could do for her health, safety and pain relief. And they wouldn’t be aborting the baby so much as delivering a child who had already died in the womb or would die within minutes of being delivered. Just doesn’t make sense the way the plaintiff phrases it. Miscarriages ARE extraordinarily painful after delivery too because the wave of endorphins released after child birth are not there to help dull the pain.
A similar claim was made here in Ireland regarding the death of pregnant Savita Halappanavar on 28 October 2012, at University Hospital Galway in Ireland and was the emotive basis for introducing legislation ultimately permitting abortions to be carried out in Ireland.
Mater Dei hospital in Dublin, a ‘catholic’ hospital (and who knows how many others), have towed the line without a whimper. One priest, Father Kevin Doran, resigned from the Board. I believe he is the only one.
Haven’t heard a word from the Archbishop of Dublin. He says he is seeking ‘clarification’ before he speaks out. (see link below)
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/prominent-priest-resigns-from-irish-hospital-board-after-it-agrees-to-perfo/
The ACLU.
Anti Catholic Litigation Union
Shutting down Catholic hospitals is precisely this administration’s objective, so perhaps what needs to happen is that Catholics go on the offensive. When the court rules that Catholic hospitals need to do abortions, and to hell with Catholic doctrine, then instead of shutting down, perhaps the Catholic hospitals should just stay open, go on refusing to do abortions and dispense contraceptives, and then fight the sanctions. What if every Catholic hospital did that? What if every Catholic institution refused to be an easy victim? It’s not as if we are fighting all alone.
I’m a little confused about why you would want an abortion if in the middle of a miscarriage? Not an expert on OB/GYN here. However, she chose to go to a Catholic hospital so should expect Catholic care. While the loss of her child is unfortunate, abrogating the First Amendment would be worse.
I was just about to post that this woman was looking for a pay day before you posted your update. No doubt, lawyers are trolling for opportunity!
First of all, was the baby dead when her water broke? Because I personally know several women whose water broke that early and who managed to keep the baby alive for a month or more so that the child could be born prematurely and put in the NICU. So maybe the hospital didn’t deliver the baby then and there because THERE WAS A CHANCE TO SAVE HIM. (It’s not easy. It involves reduced activity, drinking tons of fluid, and lots of prayer. And the moms had to shop around for a doc who’d treat them instead of telling them to kill their child. But it can work, and the kids in question are great kids who surely deserve to be alive!)
Secondly- if the baby was already dead, then she didn’t need an abortion, and the Catholic hospital would have gone ahead with SOP for a stillborn 18 week old. This, again, hints that, at the time she was at the hospital, the kid’s death wasn’t a forgone conclusion.
This account smacks of ‘leaving out key facts in pursuit of a political victory.’ Also, if the kid was 18 weeks old, they would NOT have just sent her home saying “whoops, nothing we can do.” A baby that old is too big to miscarry safely at home. They would have kept her….
So, my guess is the ‘facts of the case’ aren’t facts at all….
Catholics, like most Americans are COWARDS! Afraid of not being open minded liberals and perceived as anti-Obama right wingers. Have to ride it out 3 more years. If this nation survives then may be it will get it’s spine back.
OK– just read the article…. She did deliver a live child who died after birth. And the baby survived for a WEEK after the initial water break. So she had GOOD doctors, who were actually trying to save the kid, and now she’s suing. Good grief. Are we reaching a point where Catholic docs will only be able to treat Catholic patients without fear of reprisal?
I hate to return to the situation of ‘catholic hospitals’ in Ireland (see my earlier post and link) agreeing to comply with abortion legislation, but the whole ‘catholic hospital’ ethical scenario both here and in the States reminds me of John 11:49-50:
“…But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”
Catholic Hospitals and Bishops which ultimately concede to perform abortions so that the overall “Catholic Health Care System” of the Nation can survive are no better than Caiaphas.
I don’t even know how to advise doctors and nurses to prepare themselves….. They are ripe targets for this type of set up. Litigation is expensive, time consuming, and very stressful. So while I think the doctors here will prevail, it will be difficult. All of this may create hesitation the next time….
which is the goal…. Intimidation and bullying. Incremental action.
maybe its time to start praying regularly for all doctors and nurses. They’re on the front lines of this fight…
Hear, hear, AvantiBev and Bosco.
It’s just great to see smiling “Sister” Keehan again. Too bad the proverbial bus she should be on/is on doesn’t drive off a…. never mind.
“Sisters, while riding on this bus, please be sure to forsake your seatbelts, er I mean, habits! They are a sign of the tyranny of men/tradition/sensibility/God’s role for you, and have no place here!”
If she was a real nun, a true Bride of Christ, I wouldn’t have said that.
http://onenewsnow.com/pro-life/2013/10/08/baby-im-sorry-chinese-woman-six-months-pregnant-describes-forced-abortion#.Up1EqeKzLpc
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/report-chinese-woman-forcibly-aborted-at-seven-months-warning-extremely-gra/
“Jesus turned to them and said: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. ‘The days are coming when they will say, “Happy are the sterile, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.” Then they will begin saying to the mountains, “Fall on us,” and to the hills, “Cover us.” If they do these things in the green wood, what will happen in the dry?'” Luke 26:28-30
It all brings one to tears, it really does.
Sensing the embers are dimming, the wolves encircle the fire. If not now, then certainly soon they will lunge.
IMHO, the reason Catholics in this country have no spine is that, for the most part, when they espy their spiritual leaders, what they see are nothing more than politicians wearing funny clothes. When all you see is someone who is supposed to be boldly proclaiming the faith rolling over and jostling for that photo with whomever happens to be in power, refusing to say anything other than finely nuanced PR-written flack, and appearing to toe the line, if not openly, then by silent acquiescence, it dulls the senses. The attitude is “well, THEY seem to be OK with ______, who am I to judge???”
We don’t have many Sheens…or Spellmans (regardless of what you may think about him, he never shrank from confrontation or demanding obedience) or O’Connors…what we have are Wuerls, Mahoneys, and all the rest of the ‘Jadot bishops’., etc.
I would posit that ‘dialogue’ is what the devil conducts while he searches for a big enough stick to whack you over the head…and we have few leaders who are willing to say “Non Serviam” to der stadt…preferring instead to ‘go along to get along’. There be big $$$ involved…and catholic health care is a big ticket item.
I predict, (and pray I’m wrong) when push comes to shove, if the baby killing and contraceptive mandate stands, and our collective Church gets sued into bankuptcy by Adam and Steve claiming we’re discriminatory because we don’t want to formalize their sodomite union with the help of our legal system and the American Communist Lawyers Union…our bishops will throw up their hands, say “we tried” almost to a man (?) and try and nuance the position and roll over, as they have for so many other evils that entered the sanctuary. We will follow Ireland, I fear.
But, cooperation with evil is still wrong. Even when the deadly force of the government is forcing you to do it. It may lessen your culpability, but not the ultimate guilt.
I think there are plenty of Bishops who know how to bish. Mine does.
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Brian Boyle: “I would posit that ‘dialogue’ is what the devil conducts while he searches for a big enough stick to whack you over the head.”
I like that! Mind if I steal it and throw it around every time someone starts yammering on about the Great Contemporary Virtue as if it were Greatest Commandment of the Law?
Bryan, I could not agree more. Our bishops (not all of them) set a poor example to their flocks, and the USCCB has become altogether too nuanced to be of value. We need more men such as Sample and Burke and Chaput. But even our best sometimes come out with some rather odd notions.
One must wonder: Do they consult the Catechism which guides us all before publishing their comments?
I realize that the CCC may be, for them, a rather thin resource, but as it is, for most of us, our one sure guide to practical matters, why do they seem so often to be arguing against it? CCC 2241, for example, is a very well written position on immigration, yet there are bishops who appear never to have read it. And on the case at hand, CCC 2271-2273 seem (to me) abundantly clear.
“and did not tell Means that terminating her pregnancy was an option and the safest course for her condition, the lawsuit said.”
Well, it wasn’t an option and not the safest course. One is not required to inform someone of an evil so that they can do it. The problem, here, is adequately summed up in Isaiah 5:21 – 23:
“20Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
And valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23Who justify the wicked for a bribe,
And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!”
One of the fundamental principles of moral theology is that one may not do evil that good may come from it. The law is an ass, as Dickens says. Basically, the whole matter boils down to one side saying abortion is an evil while the other side says it is a good. Now, abortion, bring an objective, intrinsic evil, which even a child can understand to be such, one must assume that the people who maintain it to be a good simply do not understand that error has no rights and neither do they to pursue the matter. They must be told, in no uncertain terms, that they are in error, that only fools will give them a hearing, that they are in sin (who can think that anyone in this matter is ignorant of the Catholic position), and that if they don’t repent what ever verdict that might support them that they win in this life will be overturned on appeal to the Supreme Judge of the true Supreme Court – and, oh, by the way, they will be in Hell.
I’m sorry. There is a time for gentle mercy and a time for strong mercy. There is no legal procedure that can be right here, except to throw out the case and if we do not refuse to be a cooperator in this sham semblance of justice, we will be almost as guilty as those who bring the charge. At some point, we will have to make it clear that there are limits to how much leeway we will allow for civil courts to interpret morality, which is all that is bring adjudicated, here. They are, in large part, moral ignoramuses, which is why they even allow such matters to have a hearing (how’s that Reformation going, eh). Vatican II calls us to help form the minds of the population in moral matters. It did not say by what means.
Do I sound angry? Good. I am angry. A poor woman lost her baby (which she was willing to kill – oh, the irony) and instead of grieving and looking to God for compassion, she pounds her fists and looks to unholy men for a false justice. Such is and always has been the beginning of idolatry. Hide the gold, for, sooner or later the mold for a calf will be brought out.
The Chicken
One can safely bet the lawsuit was not Tamesha’s idea or initiative. She’s being puppeted, just like Roe.
“. . . and we have few leaders who are willing to say “Non Serviam” to der stadt . . .”
Die Stadt is the German expression for city or town.
Der Staat is the German for state. And the definite article the is modified in German according to the gender and position of the noun in the sentence. In the above sentence, Staat (state) would be a masculine noun used in the dative case, and so it would be correct to say “. . . to dem Staat.” (Please note also that German nouns are written with initial capitals.)
i stand corrected on the vagries of the German language, if somewhat pedantically…but intent of the message doesn’t change, nor the end result.
@The Chicken: Sooner or later? The vast majority of the Western world has been worshiping the Golden Calf molded in the image and likeness of itself since the so called ‘Enlightenment.’ This is not new; it is just a sign that, to quote a Jesuit whose name I cannot recall now: “we are at the a** end of the Enlightenment.” The human race has been attempting to construct an earthly paradise by our own means since the French Revolution, and we are now living with the end result. It needs to stop, and the sooner the better.
My theory is this suit will be lost. The U. S. bishops’ conference doesn’t own or operate the hospital, from what I can tell–0r indeed exercise any supervision over it. The conference has simply set forth moral directives for Catholic hospitals. So I don’t see any legal liability.
Furthermore, the facts of the case seem muddy. The woman’s water broke and she gave birth a week later to a baby who died. She seems to claim that the hospital had a duty to inform her that she could abort the baby–but she also claims that the hospital was the only one remotely near her home. So how could she have safely (since her health was also in danger) gotten to another hospital–where? What injuries is she claiming? Pain? I can’t believe that the hospital didn’t help her out in that department? Emotional distress at contemplating her dead baby. But she wanted the baby dead via abortion in the first place….
In short, I don’t get this lawsuit. I think the ACLU is using it strictly as a publicity device, as the abortion lobby did with the dead woman in Ireland. The ultimate aim isn’t a court judgment against the bishops’ conference but some sort of legislative action that would not only force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions but to tell patients that they have a “right” to an abortion–and also to nullify the moral authority of the bishops.
“Is it time to close every Catholic hospital?”
If the government forces them to go against Catholic teaching and hinders the salvation of Catholic souls, then yeah.
“Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.
And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created.
From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it.” – St. Ignatius of Loyola
And to help ensure the facilities couldn’t be used for evil, the facilities should be demolished, all equipment destroyed, and the land around the foundation salted. Let 120,000 hospital beds vanish and then say, “Now what’s up?”
The reason groups like the ACLU can do this is they think Catholics will just roll over and take it. Occasionally taking your ball and going home is the proper course of action. The church is a spiritual hospital. If running a real one helps that mission, then great. If it stops helping that mission, cut it off. As the Pope said, we’re not a NGO.
When King Henry VIII of England required of his land-owning subjects and others in prominent positions to swear that he, Henry, was Head of the Church in that realm, and not the Pope, many signed, but many did not. When the monks of various orders refused to sign, Henry did not hesitate to appropriate what had until then functioned as hospitals for Renaissance England – the monasteries. He evicted the monks and the nuns, some of whom he also exiled or executed, and he gave the monastery buildings and lands to his friends and supporters for them to operate as private estates.
Meanwhile, the sick and the poor, those who had received relief and assistance from the monasteries, were left with nowhere else to go. (This, however, did not appear to concern Henry much.) The monks could have said, “we must sign, or else we will no longer be able to continue our mission of serving God by caring for the sick and the poor, and besides we will lose these sacred buildings which have been entrusted to our stewardship, and we ourselves will be cast out with no means to earn our livelihood and will become a burden to others.”
However, the English monks did not reason in that way, and suffered themselves to be evicted and punished instead. Even though it meant that the poor would suffer. Even though it meant they would have to abandon their ministry.
Spade,
I don’t disagree that closing I shop may eventually be what happens. But I want to see the Church fight this mess tooth and nail before giving up. Because taking our ball and going home is just one way of the Statists getting what they want: Catholics and other faithful being forced to either comply and keep their faith in the closet or else face social leper-dom and legal persecution OR withdrawal from the field altogether. Either way they get to replace God with The State. It becomes more and more difficult to convert people and keep them in the faith when they largely do not look to God and His people for help but to the government (which promotes, encourages, and rewards all sorts of evils in exchange for “assistance”).
Is someone here saying me that the Irish Catholic hospitals *are* performing abortions? I hope not.
The “excruciating pain” this woman suffered was labor pain. An abortion at that point would have meant having the baby cut to pieces inside of her. She wanted that?
I don’t think a woman who ever intended to give birth to and raise her child could choose that to avoid a little pain.
Susan Peterson
Mandy, I too want the church to fight this mess tooth and nail. Since the healthcare providers are on the front lines, we need to find a way to support them (through prayer, as well as more temporal measures). I expect them to face enormous pressures to bend….
We also need to encourage the bishops to understand that we cannot negotiate with this evil: therefor the doctors and nurses need our moral, financial and legal support.
@Mandy P.,
“…I want to see the Church fight this mess tooth and nail before giving up…”
That was precisely our hope in Ireland but it did not happen (see my post and link above)
Perhaps the episcopacy in the U.S. are cut from more heroic stock. Perhaps the religious orders that run the hospitals and health clinics in the U.S. are prepared to go to the wall.
Yeah, the church needs to fight tooth and nail, of course. But they need to make it clear that just because you “beat” us in a court of law doesn’t mean we ever have to comply.
It is not certain that a baby will die when the mother’s water is broken early. I am the survivor of just such a pregnancy. My mother’s water broke when she was about 16 weeks along. The doctor, even back then in the 1960’s, wanted her to abort me. She refused and instead called everyone she knew to pray. When I didn’t die, the doctors predicted either stillbirth or severe physical and/or mental disabilities. Instead, I was born the healthiest child in my family, a little early on the feast of the Assumption. No doubt the doctors at this hospital were hoping for the same type of outcome. Yes, it does smell of a Norma McCorvey type of conspiracy, and yes, Catholic hospital administrators may soon be forced to choose between keeping the doors open or losing their souls. Tragically, no one wants to fight anymore, even though it would appear that even with a modest fight that would amount to nothing more than a firm “NO!” the forces of evil would collapse. Christian civilization dies and persecution approaches because those in the position to DO something just act like little girls.
Spade wrote,
yes,to everything you wrote.