Articles by Margaret Turley

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Choose to Live- Die in Hell/Choose to Die&leave your children motherless


12/22/10 NY TIMES

Arizona: Hospital Loses Catholic Affiliation

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix announced on Tuesday that St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center could no longer identify itself as Roman Catholic because it violated church teachings by ending a woman’s pregnancy in 2009. Hospital administrators said the procedure was necessary to save her life, and stood by their decision even after Bishop Olmsted excommunicated a nun on the hospital ethics committee. The hospital, which receives no money from the Phoenix diocese, can no longer hold Masses. But Catholics can continue to work and be treated there.
12/27/10 THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
The Republic recognizes the bishop’s dedication and sincerity, but questions his compassion—particularly regarding the critical case in which an abortion was deemed necessary to save a woman’s life.
12/22/10 
OImsted also said that he was “very much worried” that the affair would divide the Catholic community and that he would “hope and pray” that the hospital would come back to full communion with the Church. “I’m very sad that this will happen, but it would be unfair to the people for me to make as if an institution was Catholic if it wasn’t following directives that are clearly known to them, given to them to serve them. I owe it to the faithful to know what’s happening there,” he said.
12/22/10 WASHINGTON POST
When an 11-weeks pregnant woman suffering serious health complications entered St. Joseph's Hospital, a Catholic medical center in Phoenix, Arizona last year, her care turned into a complicated tangle of moral wrangling that ended yesterday with the Bishop of Phoenix declaring that the hospital was no longer "Catholic."
12/21/10 THE GUARDIAN
"Tests showed that in the early stages of pregnancy her condition deteriorated rapidly and that before long her pulmonary hypertension - which can impair the working of the heart and lungs - had begun to seriously threaten her life. Doctors informed her that the risk of death was close to 100% if she continued with the pregnancy."
What happened to the protection that is mandated by HIPPA laws? Has Bishop Olmsted transgressed the law? Should he be prosecuted?
In general I am against abortion. But there are certain cases where the doctor deems the procedure medically necessary for the mother's health and the fetus is not going to be viable when it is delayed that the difficult decision must be made. Then it should be a private decision between the mother, and her healthcare professionals, assisted by her faith - and after that the law of the land.
Hopefully someday the law will uphold the rights of women to receive necessary medical care in all stages of life.