Informed consent for patients at Catholic hospitals

26 June 2023

Catholic healthcare facilities deviate from the standard of care for treating women and girls because they are obligated to follow directives from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (see also my prior essay). These directives prohibit treatment they consider immoral but which is the standard of care of the US medical community, including:

• Sterilization (vasectomies and tubal ligations, see also ACOG opinion).

• Contraception (birth control pills, IUDs and even reinsertion of IUDs removed during pregnancy).

• Abortions: these directives force physicians to delay abortions to treat miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies until the pregnant woman or girl is in imminent danger of death or the fetus has died (i.e. there is no cardiac electrical activity). Alternatively, physicians can transfer the woman or girl to a non-Catholic institution.

• Gender affirming care.

• In vitro fertilization.

I have written Michigan legislators requesting that Catholic hospitals or others with similar policies be directed to post information online about how these directives may cause them to deviate from the standard of care and may affect their patients. To date, Michigan State Senator Erika Geiss has expressed interest in including a notice requirement of some type in her “next package of bills” protecting reproductive choice, but to my knowledge, no legislation has yet been introduced.

Informed consent language will protect patients who don’t understand the differences in treatment given by Catholic hospitals. It should also help protect Catholic hospitals from medical malpractice lawsuits because a patient injured due to these deviations from the standard of care would have a prima facie (i.e. meritorious on its face) lawsuit against the hospital unless the patient consented in writing to these deviations.

Here is what the “informed consent” might look like - it would be best if patients signed a statement acknowledging that they were informed of these policies:

Catholic healthcare facilities are obligated to follow directives from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Employees of a Catholic healthcare institution must respect and uphold the religious mission of the institution and adhere to these Directives. They should maintain professional standards and promote the institution’s commitment to human dignity and the common good.

These directives prohibit treatment deemed “immoral”, including sterilization (vasectomies and tubal ligations), contraception (birth control pills, IUDs and even reinsertion of IUDs removed during pregnancy), abortions (defined as the directly intended termination of pregnancy before viability or the directly intended destruction of a viable fetus) unless the pregnant woman or girl is in immediate danger of death, gender affirming care and in vitro fertilization.

If necessary or requested, we may transfer the pregnant patient to another hospital.

Please contact us at ___ for further information.

Send your comments to me at Nat@PathologyOutlines.com .

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