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Ethics Concerns At Local Hospital
By SUSAN BRINKMANN, For The Bulletin
Even though she lived for less than two hours, Baby Miracle Gianna lived long enough to shine a stark light on practices inside a local Catholic hospital that have pro-life citizens up in arms.
Groups such as the Pro Life Union of Southeastern PA and the Bucks County Community Women’s Center (BCCWC) are part of a growing number of people calling for an independent ethics audit of St. Mary’s Medical Center in Langhorne because of several recent violations of the Ethical and Religious Directives that all Catholic hospitals are expected to follow.
These violations include allowing physicians on staff to refer women for abortion and promoting doctors on the hospital’s Web site who perform immoral procedures such as in vitro fertilization.
The most recent case involves Baby Miracle Gianna who was diagnosed with a terminal genetic disease at 18 weeks gestation and died two hours after birth on Jan. 10.
Shortly after receiving the initial diagnosis, the baby’s mother, Rebecca, (not her real name) wanted a second opinion and went to St. Mary’s Medical Center with Jessica Chominski of the BCCWC.
Rebecca was seen by Stephen Smith, M.D., who did an ultra sound and determined the baby had polycystic kidneys and would not survive the pregnancy. He recommended an abortion, even though doctors who work in Catholic hospitals are not permitted to do so.
When Ms. Chominski protested, he explained that because he also works at Abington General Hospital, Rebecca could come there and have the abortion.
“But by the time Rebecca learned the baby would die, she had already bonded with the child and didn’t want doctors telling her that she couldn’t have the baby,” Ms. Chominski said.
Rebecca then went to the Mother Bachman Maternity Center in Bensalem, a clinic for women without insurance run by St. Mary’s Hospital where she says a midwife working at the clinic also told her to have an abortion.
Citing “patient confidentiality,” St. Mary’s Senior Communicator Kathleen Smith refused to comment on the case but insisted that the hospital “is committed to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.”
These directives specifically state that “employees of a Catholic health care institution must respect and uphold the religious mission of the institution” which would preclude any involvement in procedures such as abortion, contraception, surgical sterilization, physician assisted suicide and immoral infertility procedures such as in vitro fertilization.
Agreement to uphold these directives is “a condition for medical privileges and employment,” the Directives state.
“This can be a bit complicated,” explained John M. Haas, Ph.D., S.T.L., president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. “A hospital licensed and regulated by the state has to provide privileges to any physician who is in good standing with the state and appropriate agencies. Therefore, a physician in good standing may not be denied privileges because of what he or she does elsewhere that is legal and is in accord with ‘accepted medical practices’.”
However, he says, this often “causes scandal, in the true sense of the word, because a physician who does abortion elsewhere may also practice, but only in a moral way, in a Catholic facility.”
Lester A. Ruppersberger, D.O., a pro-life gynecologist on staff at St. Mary’s, says that while doctors may not perform illicit procedures inside the hospital, administrators “draw a line” between where the hospital ends and the medical office building begins.
“They’ll say they can’t control the philosophy of the people who are renting from their medical office building, they can’t tell them what to do in their private practice,” he said.
Consequently, physicians such as Dr. Smith can dispense contraception, perform vasectomies, etc. but must do so in the building next door.
“They straddle the fence because they play the game of wanting to, from a financial point of view, advertise that they are a full-service hospital and provide access to all these services,” Dr. Ruppersberger said.
Michael McMonigle, public affairs director for the Pro-Life Union at Southeastern Pennsylvania, says the heart of the matter is that the hospital must choose between upholding Catholic ethical principles or being controversial, “and they’re choosing wrong,” he said.
“They’re choosing to avoid controversy. No one at St. Mary’s has the guts to tell Dr. Smith, ‘you’re not welcome on our staff because you commit abortions elsewhere.’ And their failure to do this undermines the whole Catholic teaching about ethical health care.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first time St. Mary’s ethical conduct has been called into question in recent months, Mr. McMonigle said. In December, 2008, witnesses who were praying at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Warminster watched a van from St. Mary’s Mother Bachman Center pull up in front of the clinic and drop off a man and woman.
When the Pro-Life Union sent a letter to St. Mary’s, asking why a Catholic health care facility would be sending a couple to Planned Parenthood on the only day of the week that the clinic performs abortions, they were told it was all just a “language-barrier miscommunication and this transportation was scheduled in error.”
In addition, the directory on St. Mary’s website continues to list the names of physicians who perform procedures forbidden by the Church even though Joseph Trevington, a concerned citizen from Lower Bucks County, has been trying for months to get the problem corrected.
“Some of the referral information proved extremely disturbing,” Mr. Trevington said. “I do not believe that Catholic hospitals should provide access to physicians who are known to provide immoral services in their private practices.”
Concerned about the way the administration at St. Mary Medical Center was interpreting proper adherence to Catholic medical ethics, he has asked the Archdiocese to initiate a full, independent ethics audit.
According to Archdiocesan spokeswoman, Donna Farrell, an independent ethical review of St. Mary’s was conducted by a moral theologian. “The results of this review have been communicated along with related recommendations to the executive management team of St. Mary’s,” she said. “Their receptive response indicates that implementation of recommended changes should be evident in the near future.”
As for Rebecca and the tiny infant she buried on Jan. 21, she has no regrets about her decision.
“Even though the baby died and it was horrible, Rebecca knew she made the right decision,” Ms. Chominski said. “She let God take the baby rather than let a doctor pressure her into killing the child. She gave her a chance at life, even if it was short.”
Groups such as the Pro Life Union of Southeastern PA and the Bucks County Community Women’s Center (BCCWC) are part of a growing number of people calling for an independent ethics audit of St. Mary’s Medical Center in Langhorne because of several recent violations of the Ethical and Religious Directives that all Catholic hospitals are expected to follow.
These violations include allowing physicians on staff to refer women for abortion and promoting doctors on the hospital’s Web site who perform immoral procedures such as in vitro fertilization.
The most recent case involves Baby Miracle Gianna who was diagnosed with a terminal genetic disease at 18 weeks gestation and died two hours after birth on Jan. 10.
Shortly after receiving the initial diagnosis, the baby’s mother, Rebecca, (not her real name) wanted a second opinion and went to St. Mary’s Medical Center with Jessica Chominski of the BCCWC.
Rebecca was seen by Stephen Smith, M.D., who did an ultra sound and determined the baby had polycystic kidneys and would not survive the pregnancy. He recommended an abortion, even though doctors who work in Catholic hospitals are not permitted to do so.
When Ms. Chominski protested, he explained that because he also works at Abington General Hospital, Rebecca could come there and have the abortion.
“But by the time Rebecca learned the baby would die, she had already bonded with the child and didn’t want doctors telling her that she couldn’t have the baby,” Ms. Chominski said.
Rebecca then went to the Mother Bachman Maternity Center in Bensalem, a clinic for women without insurance run by St. Mary’s Hospital where she says a midwife working at the clinic also told her to have an abortion.
Citing “patient confidentiality,” St. Mary’s Senior Communicator Kathleen Smith refused to comment on the case but insisted that the hospital “is committed to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.”
These directives specifically state that “employees of a Catholic health care institution must respect and uphold the religious mission of the institution” which would preclude any involvement in procedures such as abortion, contraception, surgical sterilization, physician assisted suicide and immoral infertility procedures such as in vitro fertilization.
Agreement to uphold these directives is “a condition for medical privileges and employment,” the Directives state.
“This can be a bit complicated,” explained John M. Haas, Ph.D., S.T.L., president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. “A hospital licensed and regulated by the state has to provide privileges to any physician who is in good standing with the state and appropriate agencies. Therefore, a physician in good standing may not be denied privileges because of what he or she does elsewhere that is legal and is in accord with ‘accepted medical practices’.”
However, he says, this often “causes scandal, in the true sense of the word, because a physician who does abortion elsewhere may also practice, but only in a moral way, in a Catholic facility.”
Lester A. Ruppersberger, D.O., a pro-life gynecologist on staff at St. Mary’s, says that while doctors may not perform illicit procedures inside the hospital, administrators “draw a line” between where the hospital ends and the medical office building begins.
“They’ll say they can’t control the philosophy of the people who are renting from their medical office building, they can’t tell them what to do in their private practice,” he said.
Consequently, physicians such as Dr. Smith can dispense contraception, perform vasectomies, etc. but must do so in the building next door.
“They straddle the fence because they play the game of wanting to, from a financial point of view, advertise that they are a full-service hospital and provide access to all these services,” Dr. Ruppersberger said.
Michael McMonigle, public affairs director for the Pro-Life Union at Southeastern Pennsylvania, says the heart of the matter is that the hospital must choose between upholding Catholic ethical principles or being controversial, “and they’re choosing wrong,” he said.
“They’re choosing to avoid controversy. No one at St. Mary’s has the guts to tell Dr. Smith, ‘you’re not welcome on our staff because you commit abortions elsewhere.’ And their failure to do this undermines the whole Catholic teaching about ethical health care.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first time St. Mary’s ethical conduct has been called into question in recent months, Mr. McMonigle said. In December, 2008, witnesses who were praying at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Warminster watched a van from St. Mary’s Mother Bachman Center pull up in front of the clinic and drop off a man and woman.
When the Pro-Life Union sent a letter to St. Mary’s, asking why a Catholic health care facility would be sending a couple to Planned Parenthood on the only day of the week that the clinic performs abortions, they were told it was all just a “language-barrier miscommunication and this transportation was scheduled in error.”
In addition, the directory on St. Mary’s website continues to list the names of physicians who perform procedures forbidden by the Church even though Joseph Trevington, a concerned citizen from Lower Bucks County, has been trying for months to get the problem corrected.
“Some of the referral information proved extremely disturbing,” Mr. Trevington said. “I do not believe that Catholic hospitals should provide access to physicians who are known to provide immoral services in their private practices.”
Concerned about the way the administration at St. Mary Medical Center was interpreting proper adherence to Catholic medical ethics, he has asked the Archdiocese to initiate a full, independent ethics audit.
According to Archdiocesan spokeswoman, Donna Farrell, an independent ethical review of St. Mary’s was conducted by a moral theologian. “The results of this review have been communicated along with related recommendations to the executive management team of St. Mary’s,” she said. “Their receptive response indicates that implementation of recommended changes should be evident in the near future.”
As for Rebecca and the tiny infant she buried on Jan. 21, she has no regrets about her decision.
“Even though the baby died and it was horrible, Rebecca knew she made the right decision,” Ms. Chominski said. “She let God take the baby rather than let a doctor pressure her into killing the child. She gave her a chance at life, even if it was short.”
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