The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit Friday against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on behalf of a 30 year-old woman who claims the hospital’s policy against abortion nearly cost her life by forcing her to endure a painful miscarriage at 18 weeks.
The Daily Mail is reporting that Tamesha Means, a mother of two from Muskegon, Michigan, is suing the USCCB regarding treatment she allegedly received at Mercy Health Partners (MHP) hospital in December 2010.
Means was 18 weeks pregnant when her water broke and she went to the hospital for treatment. She was given medication and sent home, only to return to the hospital twice more. On her third visit, she miscarried and the baby was delivered feet-first in a painful and prolonged breech delivery.
“Each time I went into the hospital, the same thing happened,” Means told NBC through an ACLU spokeswoman.
“They should act like it’s their mother or sister or daughter they’re treating. I pray to God someone stops this from happening again. My life could have been taken. I was in a very dangerous situation.”
Mercy Health Partners is part of Trinity Health, a Catholic-run medical group that prohibits abortion in its hospitals.
According to the complaint, doctors did not tell Means that her baby had “virtually no chance of surviving” and that continuing the pregnancy would endanger her life.
“Nor did MHP tell Ms. Means that the safest treatment option was to induce labor and terminate the pregnancy,” the complaint says. “MHP also did not tell Ms. Means that it would not terminate her pregnancy, even if necessary for her health, because it was prohibited from doing so by the Directives.”
The complaint is referring to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services that are followed by all Catholic health care facilities and prohibit practices that are in violation of Church teaching such as in vitro fertilization, abortion, and sterilizations.
Under the directives: “Abortion … is never permitted. Every procedure whose sole immediate effect is the termination of pregnancy before viability is an abortion.”
The ACLU is accusing the USCCB of negligence in allowing its hospitals to put beliefs before the safety of patients.
“The best interests of the patient must always come first and this fundamental ethic is central to the medical profession,” said Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan. “In this case, a young woman in a crisis situation was put at risk because religious directives were allowed to interfere with her medical care. Patients should not be forced to suffer because of a hospital’s religious affiliation.”
However, some court watchers are skeptical of the case’s chances as the Church gives local bishops moral authority over the hospitals in their dioceses.
Robin Fretwell Wilson, a University of Illinois professor who specializes in family and health law, told Boston.com that the ACLU’s chances of winning the case hinge on whether they can successfully tie the decisions of MHP to the USCCB which is not involved in the day-to-day operations of its hospitals.
“It’s too many layers removed,” Wilson said, adding that she has “a difficult time buying” that the USCCB is legally responsible in this case.
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