St. Joseph Hospital’s gynecologic chief of staff has resigned in protest of a near-ban on sterilizations, according to two other gynecologists who attended a meeting about the new rules yesterday.
The physician, Dr. Bill Weiderman, did not return a call seeking comment.
[Update, 5:05 p.m.: Weiderman confirmed that he has resigned over the policy, but declined further comment. His medical practice will continue unchanged; he just will no longer have administrative duties.]
Gynecologists are “incensed” by the hospital’s efforts to stop them from honoring patients’ requests to be sterilized, said Dr. Cherrie Andersen, and several doctors have spurned requests to take over as the next chief of staff for gynecology.
St. Joseph used to allow tubal ligations if the woman’s physician indicated that a future pregnancy would threaten her psychological or physical health, said Dr. Kim Ervin, who also was among those told of Weiderman’s resignation.
Under the old rules, roughly 80 to 100 sterilizations for contraceptive purposes were performed annually at St. Joseph and Redwood Memorial hospitals from 2007 through 2010, according to state records and public health scholar Sandra Hapenney. Almost all the procedures involved women who decided to have their tubes tied right after their baby was delivered, most commonly by Caesarean-section, Hapenney said.
But the top brass at the14-hospital chain run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange sent out word earlier this year that that was going to have to stop. (“Every Sperm is Sacred,” April 5.)
The new rules circulated at Thursday’s meeting said that doctors could not use a woman’s age, her psychological condition or the number of her previous pregnancies as medical grounds for sterilization. Doctors also would not be allowed to sterilize women whose future pregnancies might worsen serious heart, kidney or other conditions.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the new rules go into effect at St. Joe’s. Hospital spokeswoman Leslie Broomall said she had no comment until she could look into it further.
This article appears in Tsunami Boats.
Because every sperm is sacred. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk
One more reason to avoid St. Joe’s if humanly possible. Ancient myths and modern medicine are a bad combination.
Well, I’m personally cool with the practice but, like so many things in medicine, you will have to do a little homework before you decide on a Catholic hospital for such procedures. Sorry! Mad River isn’t Catholic and is ready to serve you.
As for “ancient myths”, it was those that led to a huge global network of hospitals, schools, universities, research centers. Some people still have traditional moral codes that don’t shift with the whims of a few generations. Deal with it.
@Ken: Just to play devil’s advocate.
Ken’s unsolicited advice will surely be a comfort to St. Joe’s patients who might need one of these procedures.
We don’t have education and science because of religion. I’m surprised anyone would attempt to make that connection. For every positive example, I can give one (or more) examples of the opposite.
Religion is generally (there are exceptions) opposed to the advancement of human knowledge because it has created a ‘god of the gaps’ (google the phrase) and those gaps are growing smaller day by day.
Moreover, the more educated a person is, and the better their standard of living, the less likely he or she is to be religious.
Nice link Ryan. Hitch is awesome. There was an epic debate hosted by Intelligence Squared where Hitchens and Stephen Fry confronted the claim, “Religion has been a force for good in history.” Suffice to say, religion didn’t fare well.
Ahh, well, let me qualify that education claim. Religion is generally opposed to the advancement of human knowledge when that knowledge — when evidence — contradicts religious mythology.
Er, and a correction. The linked debate was specifically about whether the Catholic church is a force for good in the world, so, quite appropriate given we’re discussing a Catholic hospital opposed to providing certain medical services.
always go with the non-profit hospital, they can’t ruin you for your medical debt.
Could you elaborate on the 8:57 comment, Unanonymous? That would make St. Joe a more logical choice for the uninsured (and even for insured people, since many of us have deductibles in the several thousands).
@ Unanonymous
I work for a collections agency. Yes, they can.
@ Joel
Non-profit hospitals (in general) are every bit as able to “ruin you for your medical debt” as any other type of hospital. What I believe Unanonymous is probably referring to, is the fact that many non-profit hospitals offer charity programs wherein an individual can apply to have substantial portions of his/her medical debt completely written off (in other words, the hospital basically treats you out of its own pocket). If the individual can demonstrate significant financial hardship, some non-profit hospitals might write off (erase) up to 95% or even 100% of existing and future medical charges. For-profit hospitals, on the other hand, will very seldom if ever accept charity for medical debts.
That doesn’t mean that money you owe to a non-profit hospital can’t show up on your credit report. If the hospital wants your debt with them to show up on your credit report, qualifying for a charity program won’t necessarily stop that. The only way to be sure it doesn’t affect your credit is to pay the whole bill.
Astounding.. I thought that hospital was better than that.. Telling medical practitioners how to treat, and not treat, their patients, with legal and medically-indicated procedures. The ob-gyns are to be commended for taking a stand. Mad River is now my choice for a hospital for any and all reasons until this policy is reversed.
@Ryan:
Interesting clip, and I’ve enjoyed reading and listening to Hitchens, most especially his rationale for invading Iraq, which I supported.
Fyi, I think folks who don’t believe in God can have a deep moral grounding that informs their moral choices, teachings and denunciations. In this particular clip, however, maybe I’m just another stupid, blind Christian (Joel will heartily agree), but I didn’t hear Hitch directly answer the question, “Without God, what basis do you have for declaring things right or wrong?”. I mostly heard a laundry list of crappy things done by faith-based people. I agree, some FBPs do really crappy things, and God-damned Athiests (technically true, if you’re of most Christian traditions, sorry) have been know to do some crappy shit, too. And both have done wonderous things on behalf of others; their motivations so pure and grace-filled they seem beyond this world. The human experience, of which religion, and rejection of it, are an integral part.
But Hitch didn’t really answer the question (in this short clip).
And I stand by my specific earlier post. Don’t go to a Catholic hospital if you need forbidden procedures. You can hate that all you want; write screeds deep into the night about such monstrous beliefs. But prudence would suggest that patronizing another hospital that does provide such services would be your your most logical endeavor. Unless you are helpless. Are you really? Or just in the mind of your liberal betters who strive with a messianic zeal to craft a “perfect” society and vociferously denounce anyone who disagrees with a vituperative intensity that would make Spanish Inquisitors cringe.
(Not you, Ryan 🙂
Watch the clip again, Ken. Hitchens argues that rather than defining morality for a species that requires an instruction manual, faith clouds our innate sense of it.
“Morally normal and intelligent people find themselves saying fatuously wicked things when the subject [of faith] comes up. The suicide bombing community is entirely faith-based. The genital mutilation community is entirely faith-based. Slavery is mandated by the bible.
“Given only faith, mountains can be moved and millions of people who would never normally acquiesce to evil are brought to it straight away and with ease – and with self-righteousness.”
I would add: Which is not to say that individuals (like my mom, who’s a priest and a wonderful person, for example) can’t find comfort and guidance in their faith. Just that it’s hardly a prerequisite for morality, as evidenced (taken collectively) by its adherents.
What evidence is there to suggest that with god, “declaring things right or wrong” is more meaningful?
If Walmart were notorious for molesting kids, I wouldn’t shop there either.
Thanks for the clarification on medical debt, Nick.
If an organization takes my tax money for anything at all, I want the organization to abide by the government’s rules. Catholics are not above the law. Period.
It is one thing to not provide birth control or elective sterilization under the Catholic rules ( with which I disagree…since so many of the people who work for St Jo or have insurance through St Jo do not subscribe to Catholic dogma but life circumstances make them dependent on this institution for their livelihood)…But, it is another thing to blow off expert advice when a doctor deems another pregnancy dangerous to a woman’s body, threatening her and perhaps the baby’s well-being…and the St Jo insurance won’t cover birth control and won’t allow sterilizations. What options does a woman have? Natural Family Planning is not the answer if there are irregular cycles. If we have to accept the existence of Catholic institutions in our community with all the good they may provide, at the very least, a doctor should be able to provide a tubal ligation when it is necessary….and midwives and OB/GYN doctors should be able to use birth control to regulate the menses, treat ovarian cysts and peri menopausal bleeding…..and any other use of birth control to treat disorders and prevent a deleterious pregnancy.