The American Civil Liberties Union filed a sweeping federal lawsuit against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops over its ethical guidelines for Roman Catholic hospitals, arguing the directives were to blame for negligent care of a pregnant woman who went into early labor and whose baby died within hours.
The ACLU alleges the bishops were negligent because their religious directives prevented Tamesha Means from being told that continuing her pregnancy posed grave risks to her health and her child was not likely to survive. She was treated at Mercy Health Muskegon, a Catholic hospital in Michigan.
"It's not just about one woman," said Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan ACLU. "It's about a nationwide policy created by nonmedical professionals putting patients in harms' way."
The lawsuit comes amid a wave of mergers between Catholic and secular hospital systems throughout the United States, raising questions about how much religious identity the hospitals will retain and whether they will provide medical services that conflict with church teaching. Advocates for abortion rights and others fear the mergers will limit access to a full range of medical care for women. About 13 percent of U.S. hospitals are Catholic.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops' conference in Washington, said it hadn't been officially notified of the lawsuit and couldn't comment until it received the complaint. Neither Mercy Health Muskegon nor its corporate parent, Trinity Health, would comment Monday. Earlier this year, Trinity Health and Catholic Health East completed a merger, combining more than 80 nonprofit hospitals across about 21 states.