When there's a heartbeat: miscarriage management in Catholic-owned hospitals.

• Autores: Lori R Freedman, Uta Landy, Jody Steinauer
• Localización: American journal of public health, ISSN 0090-0036, Vol. 98, Nº. 10, 2008, págs. 1774-1778
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • As Catholic-owned hospitals merge with or take over other facilities, they impose restrictions on reproductive health services, including abortion and contraceptive services. Our interviews with US obstetrician-gynecologists working in Catholic-owned hospitals revealed that they are also restricted in managing miscarriages. Catholic-owned hospital ethics committees denied approval of uterine evacuation while fetal heart tones were still present, forcing physicians to delay care or transport miscarrying patients to non-Catholic-owned facilities. Some physicians intentionally violated protocol because they felt patient safety was compromised. Although Catholic doctrine officially deems abortion permissible to preserve the life of the woman, Catholic-owned hospital ethics committees differ in their interpretation of how much health risk constitutes a threat to a woman's life and therefore how much risk must be present before they approve the intervention.;