Quote:
Ariz. hospital loses Catholic status over surgery
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix stripped a major hospital of its affiliation with the church Tuesday because of a surgery that ended a woman's pregnancy to save her life.
Bishop Thomas Olmsted called the 2009 procedure an abortion and said St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center - recognized internationally for its neurology and neurosurgery practices - violated ethical and religious directives of the national Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"In the decision to abort, the equal dignity of mother and her baby were not both upheld," Olmsted said at a news conference announcing the decision. "The mother had a disease that needed to be treated. But instead of treating the disease, St. Joseph's medical staff and ethics committee decided that the healthy, 11-week-old baby should be directly killed."
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St. Joseph's does not receive direct funding from the church, but in addition to losing its Catholic endorsement, the 697-bed hospital will no longer be able to celebrate Mass and must remove the Blessed Sacrament from its chapel.
Hunt said the hospital will comply with Olmsted's decision but it will continue to operate under Catholic guidelines.
"We will continue in the Catholic heritage through words and deeds," she said. "We have removed the Blessed Sacrament from our tabernacle, we will have no Masses, but priests will see patients. We are still a hospital."
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Olmsted's announcement came after months of talks between the Diocese, the hospital and the hospital's parent company, Catholic Healthcare West.
Dr. Charles Alfano, chief medical officer at the hospital and an obstetrician there, said Olmsted was asking the impossible from the hospital.
"Specifically the fact that he requested we admit the procedure performed was an abortion and that it was a violation of the ethical and religious directives and that we would not perform such a procedure in the future," he said. "We could not agree to that. We acted appropriately."
The rest at the source.
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@ the bold:
There was a nearly 100% chance of death without the abortion in this case. I've looked all over on this case and not seen a single suggestion of alternative treatment for the woman other than a few suggestions of trying to "deliver" an 11 week old fetus which were not made by medical professionals and is implausible due to the size of the fetus and uterus.
I think the biggest shame here is that the chapel can no longer be used for Masses despite the fact that Mass can be performed in completely unaffiliated airport chapels. I don't think that the hospital itself will suffer.
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