Catholic hospitals under fire
by Carder
What we have heard from the private Catholic systems is that they are going to be respectful of LGBT people, and we actually don’t doubt that… but here’s the question for us — it’s different if a person goes in with a broken arm. We know they’ll be treated with respect.
The question we have is, how are they going to treat someone who goes in specifically for a procedure that’s related to being LGBT?
~ LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual) activist Kathy Reim , expressing concern over Catholic and non-Catholic hospital mergers that might deny procedures such as “in vitro fertilization for lesbian couples, hormone treatments, and gender transition surgery” for LGBT patients, The Daily Beast, December 3
Dec.09, 2013 6:00 am |
GLBT, Health care, The Church |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
And I for one will say this. As a nurse for 28 years I have indeedhad many HIV positive homosexual patients. I have always given professional care. It doesnt matter if you are the 38 year old homosexual dying from AIDS or the 80 year old lady dying from renal failure. I treat my patients the same. What I guess Im asking are what rights??
What procedure would that be?
No Heather it isn’t just you. What a bunch of freaking whiners.
Mary…thank you!
If a hospital is going to be pro-life, it should be consistently pro-life, without regard to sexual orientation. If you’re opposed to IVF, don’t offer it to anybody. Don’t refuse it to lesbians but say it’s okay for straight couples facing infertility. I’m pretty sure that the Catholic hospitals do in fact deny IVF across the board (but I’m not Catholic so what do I know), so that is not an instance of LGBT discrimination.
Sex reassignment surgery raises totally different issues that, in my opinion, are completely unrelated to the abortion issue and therefore aren’t appropriate for discussion on this blog.
re:Catholic “…hospital mergers that might deny procedures such as in vitro fertilization for” ANY “couples…” surely?
There’s no discrimination that can make inherent evil valid based on the licitness of a patient’s lifestyle: its immoral to separate fertilization from the conjugal act, and the fruit(s) of conception from the maternal womb. No Catholic Hospital ought be selling that service under whatever insurance coverage – there is no just price for a sin.
The Catholic church was among the very first to minister to patients with HIV here and in Africa.
This disingenuous Kathy Reim is spreading lies again, implying that patients with HIV aren’t treated ALL THE TIME in religious run hospitals. Don’t doubt that this woman knows better, and is just pushing her agenda. Wait till she finds out what Obamacare has in store for patients who get too expensive, and it won’t be charity.
HIPAA of course prevents proof of her lies from being immediately transmitted.
“in vitro fertilization for lesbian couples, hormone treatments, and gender transition surgery” for LGBT patients.”
Please correct if I am wrong – IVF, hormonal treatments and “gender transition” are not considered health-related procedures, except maybe for hormonal therapy in rare instances.
No one will die if denied the above services as all three are lifestyle procedures. Are any of them even covered by insurance? Nope. Kathy Reim needs to disappear. This is nothing more than “stirring the pot.”
– if a lesbian couple wants IVF they can go to FCI in Illinois or some other quacks in other states
– if anyone wants to “transition” I am sure Martina Navratilova can be of advise where to go.
“but I’m not Catholic so what do I know”
Lol, we’ll I’m pretty sure you’re right. Never heard of a Catholic hospital giving IVF treatments regardless of the orientation or marital status of the couple. And regardless of anyone’s opinion on sex reassignment, I really don’t see a valid reason a Catholic hospital would have to offer something like that. Plenty of hospitals only offer some services for different reasons, as long as it’s not a life saving necessary treatment.
The only concern would be actual discrimination, but there are codes of ethics that should help prevent things like that.
Whiners indeed.
Reproductive entitlement and chaos. Lifestyle procedures trump medical procedures.
Meanwhile no one is paying for our family’s real dental care but me and my husband. Obamacare won’t push for medical devices in the same way they focus on IVF and yet our nebulizers help keep kids in our family out of the ER.
Go figure. The whiners win because they are the angriest and loudest. And because they have the pet problems of the day. Bummer for people with actual medical problems.
Not all hospitals offer psychiatric or burn care either. Is that discriminatory? From what I have seen IVF isn’t offered by hospitals but by free standing clinics or physicians associated with certain hospitals.
A gay woman who was artificially inseminated gave birth at our Catholic hospital, her doctor who assisted with the artificial insemination was on the hospital staff. The hospital had nothing to do with it, other than providing maternity care, where it did not discriminate.
Do we hear obese people whining about hospitals not offering bariatric surgery?
Some do, some don’t. If your nearest hospital doesn’t, you go somewhere that does.
Good grief, I see LGBT people all the time. They bring their partners with them. Like all patients they can have whoever they want to accompany them. However I would advise the married men to leave the mistress/girlfriend at home. That can be extremely awkward for hospital staff and possibly generate some conflict.
LGBT patients get the same standard of care. In over 40 years I have never asked a patient about their sexual orientation because it has never been of any relevance.
I would advise gay couples, like I’d advise straight couples, to have a health care power of attorney. Even married people, gay or straight, should have them. BTW, you can designate whoever you want for your HCPOA, so if you want your gay partner, fine. If you want your next door neighbor, fine. Hospital staff will have to honor the HCPOA, if they don’t like the fact its a gay couple, tough crap.
Now, can we dispense with the whining and victimhood?
God bless you my nurse friends!!
Thank you for ALL that you do for others!!
I appreciate your POV on this. :)
I believe sexual orientation should remain a private matter and remain in the bedroom.
Hi Carla,
Aren’t you a dear! Thank you!!!
Quite honestly I can’t understand why any issue is made of this to begin with.
Other religious and secular groups operate hospitals too, so are they going after non-Catholic hospitals that do not provide IVF, hormonal, and gender reassignment services also? Or is this another example to bash the Catholic Church?
“Other religious and secular groups operate hospitals too, so are they going after non-Catholic hospitals that do not provide IVF, hormonal, and gender reassignment services also?”
That’s what I think is silly. Is IVF something hospitals generally provide? I thought that was a service that was generally performed at doctors offices or fertility clinics. Same with hormone treatments, I’ve never actually heard of someone getting hormonal treatment at an actual hospital (maybe hospital affiliated clinics, but it’s usually a service you wouldn’t get at an actual hospital and I’m sure it’s not that difficult to find a willing doctor). Sex reassignment are done at hospitals and surgical centers, but they aren’t exactly emergency situations, usually takes years of preparation to get. and it should not be difficult to arrange to get it done at a willing place. It just seems like these particular concerns are just kinda ridiculous.
And it makes LGBT advocates look like whiners, which upsets me. Discrimination is a real thing against LGBT people, and finding non-issues to stick it to the Catholics takes away attention from legitimate complaints of poor treatment and discrimination against LGBT people.
I haven’t heard of a US Catholic hospital actually refusing to treat an emergency or perform a necessary treatment on someone just because they were LGBT. If that happens the discriminated party should hold those who did it accountable, but the ridiculous examples she held up not only aren’t real examples of what would be discriminatory, they show that she has done no research on Catholic ethics (like thinking that a true Catholic hospital would perform IVF or similar fertility treatments for a straight woman but not a lesbian, lol).
Ty Carla. In 28 years nobody has ever filed a complaint against me with the Ohio Board of Nursing. In fact when I worked in hospice Id hold the dying patients hands until it was over. Id talk to them and tell them it would be fine to ” let go ” and not to be afraid. Many patients were End Stage AIDS …most were gay men or former prostitutes and generally the prostitutes were IV drug users.
My patients would often be happy to see me coming to work. They would say I was a very nice nurse. Of course our hospice staff had really wonderful people.
But back to the topic. As many have pointed out some of these procedures are not done in any local hospitals. Cleveland has some of the best hospitals. Of course we have the Cleveland Clinic as well as Metro. I believe Metro made number 10 for trauma and burn unit. Anyway Idk about the Clinic but Metro does not offer these services.
I agree Mary. Why is this an issue? eyeroll
I am sure you show compassion and care to ALL of your patients regardless of who they sleep with. Your priorities are to help and heal.
Some hospitals have to turf their open heart cases to other hospitals.
Many hospitals turf their pediatric cases if there’s a Children’s hospital nearby.
Hi Carla,
Thank you.
Hi Pharmer,
Exactly. Hospitals do that all the time. My hospital does not have pediatric services. If LGBT want a particular service they have to find the doctors who do them, like we all do, and the hospitals that provide them like we all do. BFD.
Also, LGBT can visit attorneys like we all can and obtain Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Power of Attorney, establish a trust or draw up a will, and determine who will be guardians of their children, just like straight people can. My daughter has had many gay clients do so.
We should all, gay or straight, married or single, take the necessary steps to protect ourselves, the people we love, and what we own. We all, gay or straight, have the legal right to do so.
Now, please, dispense with the whining.
Hi Jack,
You’ve absolutely right. If anyone gay or straight wants IVF, they have to find the doctors who do it. They will be established in their own clinics and patients are treated on an outpatient basis.
Hospitals may rent office space, as one of ours in town does, but they rent to many other doctors as well. Whether hospital lab, ultrasound, etc. is used or not I don’t know. It could be a lucrative arrangement if the hospital chooses, but for some, like in smaller communities or in communities like ours where the service is being provided already, its just isn’t possible or feasible.
Its like anything. A hospital doesn’t open a drug treatment floor if it doesn’t have the doctors who treat drug abuse or there are enough free standing hospitals and clinics already, like in our city.
Our hospital doesn’t provide plastic surgery services, we have a plastic surgeon who utilizes our hospital and its a lucrative arrangement so we are happy to buy the instruments he requests and give him the OR space and provide the staff.
Jack, as you say, its silly and these people look like whiners.
Thanks nurses for setting the record straight about the care of patients in Catholic hospitals no matter their sexual orientation. When I worked in OB we didn’t see very many lesbians but they were treated with dignity and respect. We did not have time or motivation to treat them any differently than anyone else.
Regarding the stupid rant about Catholic hospital not offering IVF, transgender surgery, etc. a lot of hospitals don’t offer every specialty as part of their services but people are free to go where the service they want is offered.
I will say be very concerned about the Obamacare PC agenda because I guarantee you that they decided to pick this fight for a reason and it is not by accident. Read the “The Homosexual Agenda” by Alan Sears it has taken years to get where we are today where the church is now maligned. This administration did not have to come after the Catholic church (I understand Joe Biden asked them not to) but they did (Valerie Jarrett overruled him). BHO told his followers during his re-election campaign “don’t get mad, get even, go vote”. They are coming after every pro-life or pro-family church, organization, healthcare organization, not-for-profit, ministry, PCC, and faith-based group that stands for Biblical principles who will not bow their knee to their ideology. Please do not trust them, they do not respect God or religious liberties at all.
Those of you who are Christians pray as you never have before, read 2 Peter Chapter 2 and know that our God is righteous, holy and just. “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray….2 Chronicles 7:14
Hi PLL,
Isn’t this just the most ridiculous thing you have heard? Where do people get these stupid ideas? Do they honestly think we question patients, and their visitors, about their sexual orientation? What do we supposedly do when we know they are GLBT, throw them out?
I debated some other gal on this blog months ago who was ranting how Catholic hospitals don’t care for or counsel AIDS patients. Really? Tell that to the AIDS infected young man I cared for who came to our Catholic hospital to protect his privacy. Being from a small town he didn’t want to be cared for at the community hospital there, for obvious reasons.
I remember the terminally ill gay cancer patient and his devoted partner. I was thankful there was someone who loved and cared for him at his side. He was involved in his partner’s care and treatment from the beginning. And then there are the patients who were as confused about their gender as I was. They rec’d the care they needed.
Work in ER and you will see every human oddity and weirdness there is to be seen, like the guy who used to run around on all fours and howl on nights of the full moon. GLBT people look pretty mundane by comparison.