The Catholic Hospital Contradiction

Beginning February 8, 2010, Certified Nurse Midwives were banned from delivering babies St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, California.  St. John’s Pleasant Valley and its sister hospital, St. John’s Regional Medical Center are members of Catholic Healthcare West.  Catholic Healthcare West is an organization founded by Catholic Sisters.  Their website states:

Catholic tradition of using the gift of reason to think our way through our ethical obligations is strong at CHW. That’s why we take our responsibility to ask the right questions and to promote integrity both in patient care and business practices very seriously.

Because we recognize the importance of the values people bring to this ministry, we utilize explicit processes for making ethical decisions. Some decisions are obvious, some are routine, some are automatic; other decisions are more complex and may put our values to the test. Some decisions clearly touch the heart of who we are. In these instances, we want to be as clear as possible about our values, our multiple responsibilities and our mission.

In all our deliberations, we are guided by two foundational documents. Our Catholic hospitals observe The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Our non-Catholic hospitals observe the CHW Statement of Common Values, which outlines the values CHW shares with our secular partners.

Due to copyright restrictions, I am unable to repost the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services here.  However I’ve provided a link for the convenience of my readers:

The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services

I suggest you open The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services in a separate window so that you are able to follow my comments below.  

The Social Responsibility of Catholic Health Care Services

Second Mandate. The second mandate is very clear; Catholic Hospitals are mandated to ensure adequate health care to the poor, uninsured and under-insured, yet Pleasant Valley/St. John’s Hospital is not complying with this mandate.  The pediatrics department recently terminated their contract with Medi-Cal, the main source of health care for the poor and needy in California.  Who is needier than a new baby born into a low-income family?

Directive 3. The behavior of various administrators and physicians on the pediatrics and obstetric committees is appalling. Mutual respect is non-existent; this is evident by the poor treatment of the certified nurse midwives along with the OB committee’s refusal to work with Dr. Fischbein and create a mutually agreeable set of standards under which he could provide much needed services such as VBAC and vaginal breech deliveries.

Directive 6. One might think that a steward of health care resources would be interested in providing unique services that are those in need may have trouble accessing.  St. John’s/Pleasant Valley Hospital’s illegal VBAC ban and their recent banning of Certified Nurse Midwives along with refusing to allow Dr. Fischbein to deliver breech babies vaginally is case in point.

Directive 7. In the real world ‘a workplace that promotes employee participation’ would be a workplace that would include employees in workplace policy making, particularly policies that directly affect those employees.  ‘Equal opportunity for anyone qualified to for the task’ would not exclude Certified Nurse Midwives licensed by the state of California from delivering babies.

Directive 9. Professional standards would normally include employee participation, mutual respect, and upholding the church’s directives.  Not lying to the media and the community which the hospital serves would also fall in the category of professional standards.

The Professional-Patient Relationship

Directive 26. Free and informed consent went out the window with the VBAC ban.  Women being duped into unnecessary surgery is most definitely outside the realm of informed consent.  The obstetricians serving St. Johns Regional and PV Hospital are telling women before they even leave the hospital that all future babies will have to be delivered surgically.  They aren’t giving them the other side of the coin sharing the dangers of repeat cesarean sections.

Directive 28. If the “free and informed health care decision” made by a woman is to refuse a cesarean section, how can the hospital ban vaginal birth after cesarean and vaginal breech birth?  Since when does a vaginal birth violate Catholic principal?

Directive 29. Most women of childbearing age believe protecting their uterus from unnecessary surgery fall under the category of ‘protecting and preserving bodily function’.

Directive 32.  These hospitals are obliging women to submit to health care procedures (i.e. cesarean sections) every day!  If a woman tells her obstetrician that she believes a repeat cesarean imposes excessive risks and burdens, St. John’s Hospital physicians are currently mandated to insist on performing the surgery despite her decision.   THIS IS HUGE!  THIS POLICY IS BEING VIOLATED EVERYDAY BY THE PHYSICIANS AND HOSPITAL POLICY.

Forming New Relationships with Health Care Organizations and Providers

Directive 67. I think St. John’s has a scandal brewing already.  They’ve gotten a lot of bad press over the last few weeks and the last time I checked there were some angry pregnant women with signs marching out in front of the hospital.   

I implore you.  If you are Catholic, please contact your priest, monsignor or bishop and/or write a letter to the Vatican.  If you know someone that is Catholic, please let them know what is going on with these hospitals and ask them to get involved.  If you aren’t Catholic and don’t know any Catholics, you can still reach out by writing letters, making phone calls, and letting the hospital administration know their policies are not okay with the people in the community they serve.

Contact Catholic Healthcare West

Sheila Browne, RSM
Judy Carle, RSM
Lillian Anne Healy, CCVI
Maureen McInerney, OP
Patricia Rayburn, OSF
Judy Rimbey, OP
Susan Snyder, OP
Lloyd H. Dean, President/CEO
Catholic Healthcare West
185 Berry Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 415-438-5500

Contact your local Catholic Church

Blessed Junipero Serra Catholic Church
Fr. Jarlath Dolan

5205 Upland Road
Camarillo, CA 93012
Voice: 805 482 6417
Fax: 805 987 8100

jaralthdolan@padreserra.org

 

St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church

Reverend James Stehly, Pastor

Rev. Msgr. John Hughes (Pastor Emeritus)

2532 Ventura Boulevard
Camarillo, CA 93010
Voice: 805 484 0532
Fax: 805 987 2941

Holy Cross Catholic Church

Msgr. Paul Albee, V.F.   Pastor
13955 Peach Hill Road
Moorpark, CA 93021
Voice: 805 529 1397
Fax: 805 529 3939

St. Julie Billiart Catholic Church

Rev. Msgr. Michael Bunny

2475 Borchard Road
Newbury Park, CA 91320
Voice: 805 498 3602
Fax: 805 376 2332

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church

Pastor Fr Michael. Mc Fadden OSA

185 St. Thomas Drive
Ojai, CA 93023
Voice: 805 646 4338
Fax: 805 646 5928

St. Anthony Catholic Church           

Fr. Sang Tran, Pastor

2511 South 'C' Street
Oxnard, CA 93034
Voice: 805 486 7301
Fax: 805 486 3142

Santa Clara Catholic Church

Rev. Jon F. Majarucon, Pastor

323 South 'E' Street
Oxnard, CA 93030
Voice: 805 487 3891
Fax: 805 483 1734

Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church

463 West Pleasant Valley Road
Oxnard, CA 93033
Voice: 805 486 6133
Fax: 805 483 6913

Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church

500 North Juanita Avenue
Oxnard, CA 93030
Voice: 805 483 0987
Fax: 805 486 2434

Our Lady of the Assumption

Father Steve Davoren

3175 Telegraph Road

Ventura, CA 93003

Phone: 805-642-7966

San Buenaventura Mission Catholic Church

Fr. Michael J. Carcerano (Parish Pastor)

Fr. Damian Fernando (Senior Priest)

211 East Main Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Voice: 805 643 4318
Fax: 805 643 7831

St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church

Fr. Peter Foran - Pastor

32032 West Lindero Canyon Road
Westlake Village, CA 91361
Voice: 818 889 1279
Fax: 818 889 3405

St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church

Fr. Tom Anslow

Fr. Michael Carroll

Associate Priest Fr. Jim Maher

5801 Kanan Rd.
Westlake Village, CA 91362
Voice: 818 991 3915
Fax: 818 991 7152

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church

1300 East Valley Road
Santa Barbara, CA 93108

Phone (805) 969-6868
FAX: (805) 565-5959

Msgr. Stephen Downes Pastor

Rev. Maurice O'Mahony Pastor Emeritus

Santa Barbara Mission

Fr. Daniel Barica, O.F.M., Pastor

2201 Laguna St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Voice: 805 682 4151
Fax: 805 687 7841

Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church

Rev. Paul D. Devot, S.J., Pastor

21 East Sola Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Voice: 805 963 1734
Fax: 805 965 6461

St. Peter Claver Catholic Church

Reverend Monsignor Gary P. Bauler

5649 East Pittman Street
Simi Valley, CA 93063
Voice: 805 526 6499
Fax: 805 526 7233

St. Paschal Baylon Catholic Church

Rev. Dave Heney

155 East Janss Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
Voice: 805 496 0222
Fax: 805 379 2506

daveheney@stpaschal.org

Contact your local Convent

The Sisters of Notre Dame

Sister Valerie Marie Roxburgh, SND

1776 Hendrix Avenue

Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

Monastery of Poor Clares
215 E. Los Olivos St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93105—3605

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

Sr. Cristina Knoell, OSF

11320 Laurel Canyon Blvd.

San Fernando, CA 91340-4350

Phone: 818-898-1546

Fax: 818-365-6646

comeandseeosf@yahoo.com

Carmelite Monastery
27601 Highway 1
Carmel, CA 93923

Phone: 831-624-3043

Contact your local Bishop & Diocese

Most Reverend Gabino Zavala
San Gabriel Pastoral Region
16009 East Cypress Avenue
Irwindale, CA 91706-2122

Most Reverend Gerald E. Wilkerson

San Fernando Pastoral Region
P.O. Box 7608
Mission Hills, CA 91346-7608

His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241
info@la-archdiocese.org

Most Reverend Edward W. Clark
Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region
5835 W. Slauson Avenue
Culver City, CA 90230

Most Reverend Thomas J. Curry
Santa Barbara Pastoral Region
3240 Calle Pinon
Santa Barbara, CA 93105

Most Reverend Alexander Salazar
Vicar for Office of Ethnic Ministry
3424 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202

Most Reverend Oscar A. Solis
San Pedro Pastoral Region
3555 St. Pancratius Place
Lakewood, CA 90712-1416

Contact the Vatican

Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re
Prefect, Congregation for Bishops
Piazza Pio XII, 10
00193 Vatican City, Italy, Europe
Phone: (011) 39-6-6988-4217

Contact the Pope

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
00120 Vatican City, Italy, Europe

benedettoxvi@vatican.va