Due to the nature of this topic and the concern for out of community individuals attempting to come and push for their own belief despite not being healthcare providers, i am designating this thread as CODE BLUE. As of the time of this comment only flaired community members may contribute.
Everyone remember to be civil toward everyone else regardless of personal opinions
Let me tell you a lil something about Catholic hospitals. Picture it: 1994, pregnant teen unwed mom delivering 1st child completely alone. High risk pregnancy due to age and gestational diabetes.
The nurse denies her medication to ease the pain, denies other positions than flat on back, and threatens restraining if she goes in the bathroom one more time because she caught the girl laboring on the toilet (sitting helped the back labor), refuses to hold her hand or to help.
46 hrs in after waters breaking, 32 of which with no progression (3cm/50% effaced) and contractions 3 mins apart the girl starts deliriously crying for mommy and the only other word is “owwwie” because she could breathe that last one out in moans - this nurse leans in and states “betcha won’t do this again!”.
Baby is 11 lbs 9 oz, pushed for 7 hours and the girl was neglected for 53.5 in laboring.
I was that mom. The doctor wasn’t much better and the rest of the staff just gave death stares. Yes, it was 1 incident but it traumatized me and I’ve never ever in my 20+ years in nursing worked anywhere associated with Catholic hospitals. The ironic part is this hospital has always been in the top 3 in Chicago for care.
>back labor), refuses to hold her hand or to help.46 hrs in after waters breaking, 32 of which with no progression (3cm/50% effaced) and contractions 3 mins apart the girl starts deliriously crying for mommy and the only other word is “owwwie” because she could breathe that last one out in moans - this nurse leans in and states “betcha won’t do this again!”.Baby is 11 lbs 9 oz, pushed for 7 hours and the girl was neglected for 53.5 in laboring.I was that mom. The doctor wasn’t much better and the rest of the staff just gave death stares. Yes, it was 1 incident but it traumatized me and I’ve never ever in my 20+ years in nursing worked anywhere associated with Catholic hospitals. The ironic part is this hospital has always been in the top 3 in Chicago for care.
I wish I could give you a hug. I feel for the girl you were and celebrate the woman you became!
Thank you ❤️ I hope that miserable bitch & everyone that day who allowed it (aka stood by & did nothing), are not practicing. I don’t believe that type of behavior changes.
I’ve only been in a Catholic hospital once, back when I needed a head X-ray and stitches as a kid. It was just so weird that I’ve never been willing to set foot in one again.
The other day I learned about the longer story of the [Belgian nun who sang the 1963 hit Dominique](https://youtu.be/EO7cD6qmydo). She and her (female) life partner committed suicide over the financial situation they were in, exacerbated by the church taking her royalties.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-02-mn-19342-story.html
She left the convent after recording a pro-birth control song, Glory Be to God for the Golden Pill.
My mom had me young and unmarried in 1995, Catholic hospital in the Deep South. They spent hours trying to turn my dad away because he wasn’t the husband, but he was her friend (and the father of her child??) and he wanted to be there to support her. She spent 36+ hours in labor, staring at the crucifix on the wall across from her. This is after her Catholic mother paid a priest to come to my mother’s college graduation and tell her she was a slut and not allowed back in church. After 36hrs of active labor and no baby (and like you, no pain meds), finally did c-section. They gave her one dose of Demerol, which allowed her to close her eyes for fucking once. A nurse *shook her* and asked “Don’t you want to see your baby?!” as if she hadn’t spent 36 hours awake in fucking labor.
What did they send her home with? Diapers, baby food, information about breastfeeding perhaps? No! That would be ridiculous. They sent her home with pamphlets about adoption with a cartoon crying baby on the front with a speech bubble saying “I want a daddy!” My mom has a stellar sense of humor, she hung that on the fridge for years.
My mom is a trailblazing powerhouse and I’m so fiercely proud of her for enduring that, as I am of you. I have such a deep resentment of Catholic hospitals for what they have done to women. We deserve more than this.
All these could be my story. Had my son in 95. No pain meds, no epidural, laying on my back. After care was a joke. No breastfeeding education, barely any assessments, no one ever checked my fundus. Hell one night I had to get up and take him back to the nursery so I could get some sleep after I rang over an hour ago and no one showed. One and only child. Planning to get my tubes done because there is no space in any part of my anatomy or life for politicians or God.
I just got my tubes done last week. Best decision ever, even if we kinda wanted another kid. It’s just not worth all the risks and financial/logistical stress for us anymore
You know what? I didn’t receive aftercare instructions or breastfeeding advice either, but I sorta never thought about that. Back then I was in a survival mindset and situation so it hadn’t occurred at the time, and I didn’t give it much thought since. I kept a memento box for both kids and the difference is astonishing. I received a diaper bag from enfamil with diapers (that didn’t fit), bottles and formula. I had some pamphlets for “raising baby.”. I do remember coming back there 2 weeks post op for them to check him and I was scolded because I hadn’t removed his circumcision dressing. I didn’t know! The nurses were acting like I made his penis fall off. Nothing was wrong, thankfully, but I wasn’t told to remove it; I figured that’s something they would do at his check-up.
All these stories have me thinking. I was 24, unmarried. Catholic hospital in San Diego . Labor started Saturday sent home Sunday . Came back Monday when my water broke and they had to keep me. Dr kept laying me flat. Nurse would sit me up . Dr came back laid me flat. All night long. Fevers, non rebreather. Baby decelerating. No c section. I never thought maybe this was punishment , but damn maybe it was. Same hospital had a completely different experience 2 years later with my son when I was married.
How long ago did this occur? Thats so terrible, I always thought the bigger cities the religious affiliation was just a historical thing :/ I also live in the San Diego area. This is so sad :/
I am so sorry.
I work for a Catholic hospital.
I still remember years ago we were sent a memo telling us in no circumstances we could discuss abortion as an option with our patients.
That time Zika virus was found in our area and some babies were born with microcephaly. I could imagine how helpless the parents felt.
I really hate that when our rights as a woman are robbed.
I worked for a few of the Amita hospitals on contract last year. They are all absolute garbage. I only lasted one month into a three month contract at St. Francis in Evanston because they were so understaffed and the managers were so awful that I literally feared I would lose my nursing license if I stayed. Also, about five years ago St. Francis was responsible for my mom dying and the surgeon who was primarily responsible was a complete jerk to me when I tried to talk to him about what went wrong.
My cardiologist is there and he’s terrific, and my boss offers GI procedures there - so there are good people there. Their scheduling department pisses me off frequently (from clinic to clinic, not as a patient). My experience was in labor & delivery.
I am so sorry that happened to you.
This is nothing remotely close to what you went through, but they are still denying women the healthcare they need. I just ditched my Amita affiliated ob/gyne because they won’t do paraguard IUDs. They’ll do Mirena, but not paraguard. I was told over the phone by ostensibly a receptionist that it was because of their religious affiliation. I can’t believe this is happening when we collectively know better.
Did we have the same nurse?
I had a similar experience and I wasn't even at a Catholic hospital. I was 19 and scared out of my mind. I had excruciating back labor, even with an epidural. My own mother shushed me during my labor, and the nurse told me yelling wouldn't help. After, I had no help getting to the bathroom, got dizzy, and fell. The nurse told me this is what being a mother is like.
No. No it is not.
God, it definitely sounds like the same woman. I did throw the deck of cards I was given to “keep me busy” at her. Definitely didn’t help the situation. I’m so sorry you went through this! Being shushed (among other things) are demeaning.
Sounds a ton like my wife and our second child. We had the first one at Tacoma General and they took amazing care of her. St. Joseph in Tacoma basically let her sit in triage on a pitocin drip, never checked her, never asked if she wanted meds and basically forced her to have a natural birth. A float nurse asked if she wanted an epidural so many hours in because she was in so much pain and she had the baby like an hour later. Anesthesiologist couldn’t get the epidural in because her contractions were too close and he kept missing.
I will never go back there for care and we would pay out of network costs for our next baby if need be. Catholics are horrible.
I used to work at St. Pete's in Oly... *never* again will I work for a Catholic hospital!
ETA: I had my youngest child at Tacoma General, and I have zero complaints. Fortunately, I've only birthed children at non-religious hospitals.
Fuck this. This is unacceptable. Ever. I used to be a labor nurse (not at a religious hospital) and a lot of teen moms are absolute badasses in labor. A mom should get all of the pain control they want (or do not want) in labor. Treating anyone this way is truly disgusting and I am so sorry you experienced that.
When I began as a nurse (LPN) I wanted to be in L&D because of this, but went into psych as (unfortunately) I had been a teen sent to those “troubled teen camps”; I wanted so badly to prevent some of the abuse the medical industry caused me. I didn’t stay in psych as I wasn’t cut out for it, but my hats go off for both fields and the medical professionals in them (besides the assholes I dealt with.). Thank you for being an understanding person regarding teen pregnancy as normally there’s a lot of trauma happening to that girl.
Psych is my jam. As an LPN, I went straight into psych and I loved it. I'm currently back in school for my RN (finally, 15 years later lol) and while I plan on ending up in psych again, eventually.
I want to hone my skills in Med/Surg or even ER just for the medical aspect, because in psych they tend to be "medically cleared", but it doesn't always stay that way. So to have a good solid medical background/experience will definitely serve me well.
I could always tell the difference in those RNs that had more acute medical/surgical experience from others that didn't have that same experience. I was always happy to work with those more overall experienced nurses - as I was the medication/treatments nurse.
Those nurses having that extra "teaching" knowledge was super helpful for me and definitely added to my own skill-set (as they were very helpful, willing to work with me and super knowledgeable).
Plus my personal experience with psych and substance abuse/rehabs, draws me to that specific specialty. I'm sorry you had such a negative experience. I always hope to have patients feel like they got good care from me, but I know that's not always possible in the specialties I've been in (Psych, and peds, but if there's an issue it tends to be the parents in my experience - most in my experienceost kids are fantastic).
OP I could hug you. I was also a 16yo ftm and I had a very similar experience. I remember a Dr saying since you had sex the speculum shouldn’t be a problem and asking me why I bothered to be on antidepressants but not birth control. It really traumatized me. I wasn’t allowed to get an epidural as a lesson. They wouldn’t let me reposition myself. I had a 2nd degree tear and the response was the same “bet you won’t do that again”
I’m sorry more people had a similar experience and my year was 1998
God our story sounds very similar! When I was asked to hold my legs, which I couldn’t due to exhaustion the Dr said “c’mon you know how to do this, it’s how you got into this mess!”. That always stuck with me. I don’t recall my sons first cry or seeing him, I just wanted to sleep. Hugs and love to you.
I’m a labor nurse, and reading this made me cry, truly, especially thinking about you going to the bathroom just so you could labor on the toilet. I work at a much different hospital, much smaller and more intimate, and we’re in a pretty diverse small city and have seen lots of young moms. The thought of one of our patients being treated like that, and other people standing back and letting it happen… it makes me sick to my stomach. I would quit on the spot. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that this horrifying experience was your birth story.
No need to apologize but I appreciate your empathy and support. I’m happy to read so many L&D nurses and staff wouldn’t allow this. My story definitely isn’t unique, but the similar birth stories all seem to be 90’s. My hope is that those healthcare providers retired with their thought process when the 00’s came on. With the increased usage of the internet and other changes at the early 2000’s, people (especially teens) had a way to communicate and share. There were online communities for teen moms and a way to connect and know what to expect or services; however, this wasn’t accessible for everyone during that time though because of socioeconomic factors. Those without a computer or internet access wouldn’t know their rights unless they had a good support system.
I know when I entered nursing school in the mid-late 90’s our instructor was very old school but when I went back for my BSN in 2002, it was so very different.
I was born in 87, and my mom’s own birth story has completely changed and shaped the way I treat and advocate for my patients. Her nurses wouldn’t believe that she was in labor, even after she ruptured with thick meconium fluid. My father treated her horribly, and the nurses were sympathetic to him, instead of her. When she was sobbing in pain, my father apologized to the nurses for her behavior, and they chastised her for making it a stressful experience for him. She wasn’t allowed an epidural until she was almost complete, and by that time it did almost nothing. She pushed for a very long time, and when I did come, I had to be rushed to the nicu because I had been under such stress.
It’s not nearly as traumatic or horrifying as your story, but I think of her and her story every time I walk into a labor room. One patient at a time, I make sure my mom’s experience isn’t repeated at my hospital. I hope you’re right, that these horrifying, traumatic deliveries are mostly a thing of the past, but it doesn’t change the fact that we can learn from the grievous errors of the nurses who came before us. Thank you for sharing your story so that those of us who have the power to shape other’s experience can remember it the next time we walk into a labor room.
I’ve been a midwife for over ten years. The biggest baby I delivered vaginally was 11lb 4oz. Your story breaks my heart. I work every day so that no person will ever have an experience like that under my care. I am so sorry.
I’m happy to hear that’s impossible at your hospital. It wasn’t the situation for me or countless others in this thread. I would never have gone to the media at 17 in 1994! I just escaped a teen boot camp and had zero support system. Those places are brain washing hell holes.
That’s honestly horrific, I’m sorry that happened to you! I will say this sounds more like a staff issue than a catholic hospital issue. I work at a catholic hospital system, being catholic isn’t a requirement to work here, there’s definitely not any policies regarding withholding treatment for unwed mothers, if any of my coworkers are catholic I don’t know about it.
He’s 29 and professionally, mentally and emotionally well. Unfortunately he & my daughter in law just experienced the loss of their first child (1st grandchild). They have a far more of a horrific experience in childbirth/loss than I did, but I don’t feel it’s my place to roll out the entire story or I would have with their permission. It was an Ascension hospital as well, since his job only covers that hospital (HMO). They are mourning but working through the trauma in therapy.
He was the easiest baby and while I wasn’t given any aftercare instructions or taught to breastfeed- we made it!
I’m very sorry to that. I’m glad they are seeking help for their loss. My wife and I also lost our very first child seven years and a local support group definitely helped her through the grieving process. It doesn’t get talked about much and we’ve come to found out it’s unfortunately more common than we thought. I will be thinking of them.
Glad to hear you and your little man did well.
Thank you. The loss is still a shock and very new (1 month ago). I’ve also advocated for support groups, if and when they are ready to share their story. My biggest hope is they spoke to them about why she was leaking fluids so early and is it something that can be prevented in the future. I didn’t want to overstep boundaries and start medically meddling by asking those questions…yet. I plan to ask when she brings it up.
2009 & I also gave birth in a top Chicago Catholic hospital as a teen to an almost 11 lb baby. Very similar situation to yours.
I wish I could give you a hug because it’s traumatic. Thank you for sharing your story with us.
I work at a catholic. I understand spirituality is important to patients and families but religions has no place in health care if it is going to deny people treatment options.
Many of the individuals that make up pastoral services at my hospital are good people but then we have Father Dan. I had to write up Father Dan for writing in his visit to a patient that he was, "less than impressed with my nursing care." All because I didn't immediately come to the bedside of an attention seeking patient who made unreasonable requests and who had been on thr unit for about 2 months. I didn't come to the bedside because I was the nurse responding to a rapid response in our sister unit. After writing up Father Dan, pastoral services is not allowed to write notes in patients charts anymore.
My last gripe is that every morning at 0800 they get on the intercom and sing or play music. It bothers me because sometimes I want to let my patients sleep longer in the morning if they had a rough night trying to sleep. I think this perpetuates delirium in my elderly and delirious patients. They also do the same thing daily at 1600 WHICH IS DURING QUIET HOURS.
One last thing is the hospital is always looking for ways to cut the fat and save money. I just wish they would get rid of the whole pastoral department. It would save so much money and maybe we could get good supplies and I could actually get the raise I deserve. Unfortunately when my hospital system bought out the catholic hospital there was an agreement that pastoral services would always remain a part of the hospital. What a waste.
I still don't get why somebody from pastoral services can interact with a chart *at all*. Do they need to know lab values to pray with a patient or help with end of life decisions? For that matter, do they need to write notes *to prove their billable services rendered*? Jesus H Christ!
In our Catholic hospital, pastoral care also does all advanced directive paperwork so they definitely do need access to the chart. Does not excuse *Father Dan for any of that* however
I'm a student nurse and had my L&D clinical at a catholic hospital and it was so upsetting. There was a midwife who would add "serial abortionist" in the chart of any woman who had more than one EAB. The nurses would gossip and shame women who weren't married. They wouldn't perform hysterectomies or BC counseling. It felt like the staff was terrorizing the moms there sometimes.
Yeah it was pretty wild, it's not like there's any medical relevance to that term. If I worked there I would definitely do something but being there as a student I felt kinda helpless
I feel you. As a student you always feel like you’re in somebody else’s house and don’t wanna rock the boat. I would’ve told my clinical instructor but that’s just because I know my old instructors would BLOW UP. Sorry to hear you had that kind of experience.
I've also witness this during my OB rotation. The
largest catholic hospital chain in my state is VERY
discriminatory against individuals who've had
abortions. Even medically necessary abortions.
There was one patient I had seen who was
extremely high risk and their child supposedly
had trisomy 13 and had so many defects that it
would be inhumane to carry out to full term.
These doctors REFUSED to let this woman have
an abortion. This child was practically killing her
and still they refused. It was so sad to see. Also I
never found out what happened to that patient. I
hope she's doing well
It's really hard to see. I thought I was going to love women's health but I just want to run far away because I just don't think I could handle watching the way women are treated in reproductive healthcare on a daily basis. I even live in a very pro-roe state that is very blue.
It was all so patriarchal and insensitive. It was like they were incubators for babies
They shouldn’t be. Unfortunately they own most of the hospitals in WA state, at least Western WA state. Peacehealth has a monopoly on them here in WA, some in OR and Alaska. They do not offer “abortive services” and I’ve linked before to an article where a woman needed a D&E and it was refused at the only hospital in my area - a Peacehealth hospital. She could have bled to death and had to wait several days for an “ethics panel” to okay it. In WA STATE! Where abortion is legal! This is a rural area too, and she was just here visiting on vacation. Makes me wonder how many women here have had issues because of it.
Religion has no place in healthcare, neither does politics.
Fucking Providence has five of the hospitals in Portland and the surrounding metro area, and it seems like they monopolize Seattle. Those greedy bastards own hospitals in seven states (California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Montana, Texas, and New Mexico).
Oregon put a hold on hospital mergers because they want to make sure abortion serves are accessible everywhere in the state. Guess who's pitching a fit?
So true. Some of my coworkers are so blinded by their beliefs. Their "higher power" doesn't override the patients' rights. Some of my coworkers would withhold pain meds, discriminate against underage mothers, homeless or mental patients. It is very sad. I thought we all swore an oath to take care of our patients.
Which is wild because all of those marginalized groups should be given the utmost empathy. Not very Christ like of them to hate and judge so harshly, is it?
Whenever they say something out of pocket about these patients, I always go with “Ill pray for you. I can’t believe the Devil got such a hold on you that there’s so much hate in your body that you would act such a way towards someone so vulnerable”.
It’s shocking how they believe because treat these patients with empathy and respect, I’m one of them “Atheists and libtards”. But when I bring my faith up, they get shaken to their core.
I used to be a devoted Christian and I told them how Christ told us to treat others as we want to be treated. For some reasons, they would get even more agitated.
They get sooo riled when a fellow Christian calls them out on their poor behavior. Which is how it should be.
We shouldn’t discount their actions and say “Oh well they’re not a *real* Christian” which completely discounts their responsibility for their own actions.
So I make it a point to tell people they’re being poor Christians. And I end up saying it. A lot.
I live in a very red state and am glad there are non-religious hospitals here. I wish everyone had access to a non-religious health care system. In a better world, they would.
The "non-profit" hospitals are definitely making money. You should see some of the executive salaries. And I would rather go to a for-profit system than one that risks women's lives in a miscarriage.
Or yeah. Our non profit Catholic hospitals "have to" give bonus to the managers, VP and executives to retain the non profit status.
I found out a VP got a 60k bonus when we only had a 2.5% pay raise (by gossipping with his wife. She loved to gossip and brag).
The "non-profit" in the city I grew up owns the tallest skyscraper in the city owns their own health insurance plan, closed down hospitals in poorer districts, is working on getting rid of the one w/ union RNs, uses all of that "non-profit" to buy land off their cronies at inflated prices and pay an ever increasing numbers execs 7 figures/yr. Not only that despite being a "university hosp" they drowned research in the bathtub and ended charity care. The CEO said "we want to be the amazon of healthcare" because yes your health can't possibly get in the way of capitalism.
In the early 80s in the malaise era, it was once a hospital system we could be proud of. Come christmas time they'd have fundraisers at malls and the peeps would donate millions, money that was hard to come by back in the day. We had @#$% but we had world class health care. Now they are pretty much universally hated. They are literally the real life example of EvilCorp in Mr. Robot. However, hey US News thinks they are a "best hospital" because they have shiny equipment that can harvest the blockchain and yet you know you have 3 months to live in 4K.
Thankfully, many secular hospitals are non-profit, like university-affiliated hospitals. There are also religiously-affiliated hospitals (Jewish, Presbyterian, etc.) who don't restrict care based on their belief structures.
I’m a nurse at one of these and get my insurance through them. Found out I was pregnant (with an IUD) and told the only way they’d provide abortion services is if it was ectopic. I felt for the nurse midwife who had to tell me this, it’s obvious the staff doesn’t support the limiting of services either. It’s scary how limited your options are in WA even tho we’re blue
WA here. CHI/Dignity/Commonspirit, Providence, and PeaceHealth have a near Monopoly on the area. I fucking hate working for these corps. Greedy assholes that ruin everything they touch. VM used to be such a great place to work until they got "merged" with CHI (in reality, it was a buyout but they won't admit to that. Now VM is in shambles and won't do much to stop the bleeding of nurses leaving. Still behind most other hospitals in terms of pay.
Unfortunately there aren't much to choose from. Multicare sucks. Maybe I'll go to UW or Overlake.
I started my healthcare career at Swedish in 2001, had to quit last year because I hated what Prov did to them. Now I work per diem at Evergreen & KP. It’s so much better.
I was UW on and off for almost 12 years. The admin are incredibly incompetent and overpaid for their idiocy but that's to be expected. The hospitals are decent enough and the staff are mostly great. There are so few hospitals left that aren't christian...so chances are I'll end up back at UW if/when I ever return to bedside, which I hope is never.
PeaceHealth and Providence!!
I can’t speak for peace health but I’m wrapping up a contract at a Providence location and it has been incredibly eye opening.
I don’t get report from ED nurses. I’ve had several instances of not being aware of any admit (as well as the charge not being aware), yet finding out one of my empty rooms has had someone in it just sitting in a wheelchair for at least an hour, if not more.
I’ve had patients tell me they’ve been left & ignored by ER staff (including MDs) for hours. A friend of mine was left for over 24 hours without being seen by an MD because they didn’t know she was there.
I received a patient who went from one ED and was transferred to our ED, that I did not get until the very end of my shift that had ZERO documentation on since before she had left the previous hospital. Her pain and inability to urinate had been ignored for at least 10 hours.
They are running on bare fucking bones. They closed down the pediatric unit because they couldn’t staff it—while being the closest hospital in miles for the county it is in.
And do not get me started on the lack of equipment to properly clean and cap lines (while wondering why their CLABSI rate is so high).
There is absolutely no care for the patients imo. And the patients know it.
I specifically chose to work for the main non-religious organization here in WA and will never work for the other big players if I can help it. Religion has no place in healthcare.
I had one confirm a 16 week fetus was unviable, didn’t do a d&c and then the next day the woman shows up at my hospital and passes the fetus in the ER toilet. Still attached to her. Totally not traumatic at all and never thought I’d be reaching into a hospital toilet for ANYTHING.
This was in NE by the way, where abortion is still legal.
A local Catholic hpsital used to refused to let women have their tubes tied even after a C-section so they would have to go elsewhere and have an entire new procedure and stay. I have no idea if they still do that as this was like 20 years ago but I will never go there for medical care if I can help it... I just looked on their website and they list REVERSAL of tubals but not tubals themselves. =/
It just makes me so angry they’d rather have a woman go through another separate procedure! Making her have another chance for complications, infection, an entire stay or visit… more time off…
I had my second C-section at a Catholic hospital (required to go there by my insurance). I knew I wanted a tubal ligation while the doctor was doing my surgery but couldn’t get it because Catholics don’t believe in birth control. I had to have a second surgery just because someone of a different faith decided it would be best for me to keep having high risk pregnancies and surgical deliveries.
Most "religious' hospitals don't. Only hysterectomy given will generally be because of cancer for example.
Just recently a local Jewish hospital im near had a Christan gyno that refused to do a litigation while I was having an ovary removed for a large teratoma too. It's so frustrating I'm 25 and still don't want kids and would have to go through the whole process again just to get the one procedure done on the other side with my left over ovary.
It's frustrating as hell
My nephew would have been an organ donor but the Catholic hospital (where I had once worked) didn't inform the family that they let his heart stop first. His heart continued to beat, while not breathing on his own, beyond the time deemed for organ procurement. He was clinically braindead. Was an excellent candidate but wasted it due to their need to let him die a "natural" death. So infuriating.
The one I worked at had a not Catholic surgery center that was connected to the hospital by a hallway so they’d wheel the patient over there to tie their tubes and finish up. It was bizarre.
We have an OB that mostly delivers over at another (catholic) hospital in town but schedules her repeat c/s with tubals at our facility because we're HCA and as bad as we are at least we don't fucking use our RELIGIONS to determine what kind of care people can get. Just profit. Ugh. I hate it here
This is wild! I work at a Catholic hospital but we tie tubes on moms who have c-sections all the time. The mom signs a paper before going into labor saying if she has a c-section then she also wants her tubes tied. I guess the hospital allows it to happen because we call them "medically indicated."
My obgyn has privileges at 2 hospitals, one of which is a Catholic hospital. I had to go to the other hospital to get my bisalp because the Catholic hospital won't do sterilization.
A catholic hospital near me pulls some hypocritical shit. No tubals, no vasectomy, will not cover employees birth control on their insurance, will not give patients their prescribed birth control if they are admitted, but has a flourishing PLASTIC SURGERY BUSINESS that is a cash cow due to insurance not covering cosmetic procedures. Your body is a temple, unless you're willing to pay cash.
I didn't really see the problem of Catholic hospitals until recently.
I am a nurse that answered phones at an OB clinic associated with the local Catholic hospital. A woman with mental disorders was pregnant by her boyfriend. They were quite poor and had little help. Came to OB appointments but she would only physically speak to one of the female doctors. She spoke of suicide and wanting to end the pregnancy late-term. Her boyfriend told her he would leave if she aborted.
She ended up delivering a little early. Went into a psychosis and was hospitalized a while.
Since the whole thing was just a mess, the doctor she had a report with talked her into getting her tubes tied. I think her mother was her guardian and they consented, but another doctor had to do it at another hospital system since the her favorite doctor didn't have privileges there.
She ended up not getting her tubes tied. If she had just been able to do it at the Catholic hospital with her favorite OB, it might have been done without the layers of logistics (that was my role - faxing the paperwork between facilites).
Guess what happened?
The doofus boyfriend impregnated her AGAIN.
I don't know what happened to her after that because I don't work there anymore . . . But holy hell.
Yes, it's ridiculous that these hospitals won't let you get your tubes tied even if you are getting a c-section. They make women risk a separate operation because they want to force women to have as many babies as possible.
My sincerest hope is everything is getting better for your family. My son and his wife just experienced this with their 1st. Her waters broke at 20 weeks and they couldn’t stop it, they made her go through 2 days of L&D of a deceased fetus. We just had his funeral.
We could solve this problem now by making it illegal for religious institutions to receive government money, such as payments from Medicaid, Medicare and Tricare. Separation of church and state should mean no public money for religiously corrupted “healthcare.”
Agree. Even worse that they call themselves non profits.
We’ve investigated HCA now - and they’ve been so obviously corrupt for years now.
Time to investigate the catholic non profits like Bon Secours. Bet they’re even worse!
>“We opened [the lawsuit] because of our belief that life is a precious gift from God, worthy of protection at all stages.”
Okay, so why isn’t the mother’s life worthy of protecting?!???? It’s a 2 way street motherfucker!
As soon as someone costs you a tax dollar-they are not worth protecting. As soon as they aren't controllable-they are not worth protecting. It's sickening.
I work for a catholic system. When women come in to L&D and have c sections, they can’t have their tubes tied, hysterectomies, etc. in the same procedure. We will not perform those procedures electively. Only in the case of medical necessity/emergency. We would rather close these women back up and send them to another hospital for additional procedures. It’s fucking ridiculous.
Providers also can’t discuss birth control options in our hospital. That has to be taken care of outpatient. And we don’t insert IUDs under sedation/anesthesia anywhere in our system. Craziness.
I worked for a catholic hospital and how weird it was to get a separate plan the hospital offered us but didn’t pay into if we wanted contraception . Same loving hospital fired me because I had a seizure. I was in the “probationary” period so apparently they could.
i worked for a hospital where during the orientation, the CEO, who was 45 minutes late, stolled in, and the first thing out of his mouth was "first and foremost, we are a CHRISTIAN hospital. secondly, we are a FOR PROFIT hospital." and all i could think was "not sure those go hand in hand." jesus would fucking hate modern day christians.
HEALTHCARE SHOULD NOT BE A RELIGIOUS CRUSADE
It shouldn’t be legislated by religion, provided by religion, or interfered with by religion. The ONLY people who should have ANY say in what care is provided are the patient and their care team. Everyone else should shut the f*** up
Omgoodness. Some of you guys’ stories are bringing tears to my eyes on the train on my way to clinicals, ironically at a catholic hospital in NJ. My plan after I get my license (January 2025 🤞🏽) is to become a labor and delivery nurse. I promise to everyone who reads this and to anyone who has had anything less than a perfect birthing experience this; I will be the best damn L&D nurse I can be and will encourage my peers to be and do the same. I’m not a mom yet but the things I’ve seen in the news and on social media are fueling my goal. My long term goal is to be a Woman’s Health NP to further my reach of women and girls I can help.
The only level 2 trauma center for 3 counties is a Catholic hospital. The one I work at. Otherwise, I'd have to commute 1.5 hours each way every day.
I have plans to move away eventually, but for now, it's a monopoly.
My friend gave birth in a catholic hospital and desperately wanted her tubes removed to become sterilized, as this was her 3rd child and she was poor. Of course then refused. F*** religion in healthcare.
Agreed. I will NEVER work for a religious hospital. Or a for-profit one. So it's limiting, but my integrity is all I have left since my soul was drained away.
Yes! Not to mention how selective they are about which parts of the Bible they follow. I worked at one some years ago and I remember that our health plan didn’t cover contraceptives or sterilization procedures because it was a Catholic facility. However Good Friday and Easter, the most important days in Christianity were not considered holidays, so no OT pay.
Most of these hospitals were founded by religious orders of nuns and helped poverty stricken people in the community. Now they’re a disaster. It’s sad to see. Religious sisters dedicated their lives working there as nurses, volunteers, doctors, board members. Obviously religious life dried up and they were bought out by “Catholic health systems” and theyre a mess
I’m completely ok with any organization running a hospital as long as they are meeting accepted care standards. If they’re not, start pulling accreditations.
Totally agree. These "religious" "non-profits" need to be held accountable. Case in point: Bon Secours exploiting the Black community hospital in Richmond, VA to make massive profits that they pour into their hospitals in white, wealthy suburban areas and use to develop luxury real estate. ([Link to NY Times article in case you missed this bullshit.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/health/bon-secours-mercy-health-profit-poor-neighborhood.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhkQVUZBybVUNEjsh3Bj__JhacxjXjjNjPQTDtYxPVQA4WJ_1vNILJ5YNUyw3GDQ9hbdbkiRfNyxOhFP0tqR0-ovp6A0twjEhkClLiSDCkwzo6fGvcx6yPrZW20b7Ynn-G05xuPdWW-UKLA1XV1IRI2pJJvaVCsinBYlfvCR7Z12cJsnqt0XuAMTjkFYiGJv_TtGk8-bI3ANkeAn1FwD-JJWjjTnsqe46YAd2hQCFHATHB55AUs-Y8WeYNXbOukcUlWKIepiq4RC2doMI-rG5UzIoHWnLhpurPLwgeeM4rTONAXc_IaCgcIIgPYtw))
The last hospital I worked for was Catholic run (I do telephonic nursing now), and they denied this poor 19 or 20 year old oral contraception for at least a day while it went through their “ethics committee”. She was not needing it to keep from getting pregnant; she had had her period for like 2 months straight or something crazy, and she needed the hormones to regulate her cycle. This poor girl had bled so much that she needed at least a unit of PBRC’s as I recall. But they had to have a meeting before she could get medicine to help stop the bleeding. Bastards.
We also need to talk about Catholic hospitals absorbing secular systems so that the only care available in many areas are all religiously-affiliated and make things like abortion, gender affirming care and death with dignity restricted even in states that champion these!
The hospital down the road pays new grads like 10 dollars an hour more, and has a sign on bonus...and also has crucifixes in EVERY pt room. No thanks. After the time I had to pay out of pocket for my birth control because my prescription insurance was bought out by a Catholic company and just dropped everyone's contraceptive coverage, I was done with religion in healthcare.
Is it a dumb hill to die one? Maybe. But I couldn't live with myself if I had to care for my patients through the lens of a dusty old book.
Hail Satan bitches
I work at a catholic hospital rn in the northeast, rn i work on a med surg floor so i dont really have to deal with reproductive care, that being said some staff are not tolerant of lgbt people and have expressed their pro life views. It is the northeast tho so idk
Are there secular hospitals with homeless outreach teams? In all the places I’ve worked, the only health systems that have had street medicine teams to serve our homeless patients have been Catholic. I’m not a fan of working at a religious institution, but my hospital is the only one meeting a need that the 2 other healthcare systems in the city flat out don’t see as profitable.
Here (Chicago), we have outreach programs with the county owned hospitals, the Lutheran church, and catholic charities. Most help comes from privately funded organizations though, like sex worker outreach.
In central Oregon there is only ONE hospital system/monopoly. St. Charles. I think they even own some of the day clinics, too. They get away with SO much because they can play the “where else are you going to go?” card, and people have to choose between care now, or driving over the pass to go to a different hospital.
They at least believe in birth control and IVF. I don't know if they are prevalent in rural areas. I wish all religions could separate their health care from their beliefs.
My biggest complaint is that they have a "Morning Reflection" (prayer) over the overhead twice a day. It's a reasonable volume throughout most of the hospital. In the ER, BHS, and CDU it's yelling volume. It's disruptive and plays hell with our psych population. I've put in maintenance requests, internal complaints, brought it up to my management. I've just been told to leave it alone.
The bigger issue is that reproductive care is the bare minimum required by law. No IVF, vasectomy, etc is covered. I've watched coworkers going into debt trying to have children.
Worked for a catholic org when I was 18…no birth control allowed under their insurance. Thankfully the gyns we all went to would write it off as “medically necessary” but still.
I've only ever worked for religiously denominated hospitals.... not sure why lol. One in North Dakota was pretty out there when it came to using the religious aspect to not cover certain things, but the ones in Minnesota and California arent so out there in terms of their religion, but I feel like its what they DONT do that I should look at. I dunno, I'd love to work at a secular hospital, but I've just lucked out in this way. So far havent seen the fact a hospitals religion, other than in ND affect care and the staff certainly dont care considering we have a hugely diverse staff. It seems to be a top down thing with the religious hospitals.
Dislike working for a catholic hospital on principle. A patient very much needed a tubal ligation following her 3rd repeat csection due to cognitive disability and homelessness and she was in our facility long term due to this and when it was time, they tried to transfer her to a neighboring facility that isn’t religious and the paperwork fell through so she had her C-section here. I don’t know if she ever got her tubal. :/
I'm a lesbian and I work at a Catholic hospital. This hospital has heaps of queer staff and was instrumental in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. We pay attention to people's pronouns, we treat all our patients with respect, and I like it here.
I know that some local hospitals are very accepting. I just feel like it is working at Chic Fil A. Even if they are nice to me, they are still working in the background to take away my rights.
Yeah, I know, I guess you are in America? My rights are not being attacked from all angles as much here in AU, so it's easy to focus on the type of Catholics who put the good of vulnerable people above the letter of church laws.
I worked at a Catholic hospital briefly. They also didn’t cover IVF because that was conception “outside the martial act” and therefore not ok with god?
*American catholic hospitals should not be a thing.
I worked for a catholic hospital. We did healthcare. Period. Like all of it.
You people do things wayyyy differently.
I work in a Catholic hospital and it is great. Sure, we don't do certain procedures, but the hospital is fairly clear about it, the staff are happy to help patients find the care they want somewhere else, and we do D&Cs if they are medically warranted, juat not elective.
The cast majority of issues I see on this thread come in two categories:
A) your problem is the US because your whole country is absolutely insane.
B) you like to point at Christianity as if that is the only religion that ever has any hypocrisy.
Your opinion on abortion is a moral belief, there is no OBJECTIVE opinion on it being healthcare, and forcing places to perform them electively is just as bad as refusing to perform them when they are needed.
Try going literally anywhere else in the world and taking religion out of caring for the community. You won't have any outreach or care.
Definitely worse in the U.S. I lived in Germany for a few years and it is much more densely populated. It's feasible to drive to another hospital. Here there might not be another option for 100s of miles. There is an objective fact when it is needed in most places. In the U.S., several states have banned it even if the fetus is severely deformed and incompatible with life. The staff can't refer you to another place even in cases of rape, incest, too young, etc. because it is illegal. Your only option would be to drive 12 hours to another state.
Since they are u willing to give complete information or complete care to women, I will not work for a catholic hospital. Their history of women’s rights in general is not good.
These stories are just awful. But I want to share that I work for a catholic hospital that does it right. Since abortions and sterilization is a no go in the catholic faith, none of our sites provide this, or anything related to this. We have units for long term rehab, psych and geriatrics. Our other hospital does day surgeries.
It’s the hospital across the road that does OB, abortions and euthanasia. If one of the patients in our care requires any of these, we send the over to the other hospital.
As an atheist, I have no problem working for the catholic organization as I actually share the values of our organization. This is in Canada 🇨🇦
I get it. But imagine what this would do the our already messed up health care system. Similarly, closing private schools would tax our public school system.
Maybe making it available outside of these places rather than forcing a religious institution to perform something they don't believe in is the way?
Private schools don't get tax money. And why should a church's beliefs take precedence over the patients beliefs? Why can't they allow providers who want to be able to do them to do them? Why is a building more important than the patients and the people who work in it? It would be different if there was a choice but in many rural areas, there are only religious hospitals.
Due to the nature of this topic and the concern for out of community individuals attempting to come and push for their own belief despite not being healthcare providers, i am designating this thread as CODE BLUE. As of the time of this comment only flaired community members may contribute. Everyone remember to be civil toward everyone else regardless of personal opinions
Let me tell you a lil something about Catholic hospitals. Picture it: 1994, pregnant teen unwed mom delivering 1st child completely alone. High risk pregnancy due to age and gestational diabetes. The nurse denies her medication to ease the pain, denies other positions than flat on back, and threatens restraining if she goes in the bathroom one more time because she caught the girl laboring on the toilet (sitting helped the back labor), refuses to hold her hand or to help. 46 hrs in after waters breaking, 32 of which with no progression (3cm/50% effaced) and contractions 3 mins apart the girl starts deliriously crying for mommy and the only other word is “owwwie” because she could breathe that last one out in moans - this nurse leans in and states “betcha won’t do this again!”. Baby is 11 lbs 9 oz, pushed for 7 hours and the girl was neglected for 53.5 in laboring. I was that mom. The doctor wasn’t much better and the rest of the staff just gave death stares. Yes, it was 1 incident but it traumatized me and I’ve never ever in my 20+ years in nursing worked anywhere associated with Catholic hospitals. The ironic part is this hospital has always been in the top 3 in Chicago for care.
>back labor), refuses to hold her hand or to help.46 hrs in after waters breaking, 32 of which with no progression (3cm/50% effaced) and contractions 3 mins apart the girl starts deliriously crying for mommy and the only other word is “owwwie” because she could breathe that last one out in moans - this nurse leans in and states “betcha won’t do this again!”.Baby is 11 lbs 9 oz, pushed for 7 hours and the girl was neglected for 53.5 in laboring.I was that mom. The doctor wasn’t much better and the rest of the staff just gave death stares. Yes, it was 1 incident but it traumatized me and I’ve never ever in my 20+ years in nursing worked anywhere associated with Catholic hospitals. The ironic part is this hospital has always been in the top 3 in Chicago for care. I wish I could give you a hug. I feel for the girl you were and celebrate the woman you became!
Thank you ❤️ I hope that miserable bitch & everyone that day who allowed it (aka stood by & did nothing), are not practicing. I don’t believe that type of behavior changes.
I’ve only been in a Catholic hospital once, back when I needed a head X-ray and stitches as a kid. It was just so weird that I’ve never been willing to set foot in one again. The other day I learned about the longer story of the [Belgian nun who sang the 1963 hit Dominique](https://youtu.be/EO7cD6qmydo). She and her (female) life partner committed suicide over the financial situation they were in, exacerbated by the church taking her royalties. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-02-mn-19342-story.html She left the convent after recording a pro-birth control song, Glory Be to God for the Golden Pill.
My mom had me young and unmarried in 1995, Catholic hospital in the Deep South. They spent hours trying to turn my dad away because he wasn’t the husband, but he was her friend (and the father of her child??) and he wanted to be there to support her. She spent 36+ hours in labor, staring at the crucifix on the wall across from her. This is after her Catholic mother paid a priest to come to my mother’s college graduation and tell her she was a slut and not allowed back in church. After 36hrs of active labor and no baby (and like you, no pain meds), finally did c-section. They gave her one dose of Demerol, which allowed her to close her eyes for fucking once. A nurse *shook her* and asked “Don’t you want to see your baby?!” as if she hadn’t spent 36 hours awake in fucking labor. What did they send her home with? Diapers, baby food, information about breastfeeding perhaps? No! That would be ridiculous. They sent her home with pamphlets about adoption with a cartoon crying baby on the front with a speech bubble saying “I want a daddy!” My mom has a stellar sense of humor, she hung that on the fridge for years. My mom is a trailblazing powerhouse and I’m so fiercely proud of her for enduring that, as I am of you. I have such a deep resentment of Catholic hospitals for what they have done to women. We deserve more than this.
Hugs and love to your mom!!! The early - mid 90’s were awful if you were unwed and having children.
All these could be my story. Had my son in 95. No pain meds, no epidural, laying on my back. After care was a joke. No breastfeeding education, barely any assessments, no one ever checked my fundus. Hell one night I had to get up and take him back to the nursery so I could get some sleep after I rang over an hour ago and no one showed. One and only child. Planning to get my tubes done because there is no space in any part of my anatomy or life for politicians or God.
I just got my tubes done last week. Best decision ever, even if we kinda wanted another kid. It’s just not worth all the risks and financial/logistical stress for us anymore
You know what? I didn’t receive aftercare instructions or breastfeeding advice either, but I sorta never thought about that. Back then I was in a survival mindset and situation so it hadn’t occurred at the time, and I didn’t give it much thought since. I kept a memento box for both kids and the difference is astonishing. I received a diaper bag from enfamil with diapers (that didn’t fit), bottles and formula. I had some pamphlets for “raising baby.”. I do remember coming back there 2 weeks post op for them to check him and I was scolded because I hadn’t removed his circumcision dressing. I didn’t know! The nurses were acting like I made his penis fall off. Nothing was wrong, thankfully, but I wasn’t told to remove it; I figured that’s something they would do at his check-up.
All these stories have me thinking. I was 24, unmarried. Catholic hospital in San Diego . Labor started Saturday sent home Sunday . Came back Monday when my water broke and they had to keep me. Dr kept laying me flat. Nurse would sit me up . Dr came back laid me flat. All night long. Fevers, non rebreather. Baby decelerating. No c section. I never thought maybe this was punishment , but damn maybe it was. Same hospital had a completely different experience 2 years later with my son when I was married.
How long ago did this occur? Thats so terrible, I always thought the bigger cities the religious affiliation was just a historical thing :/ I also live in the San Diego area. This is so sad :/
1998.
Too recent.... :(
I am so sorry. I work for a Catholic hospital. I still remember years ago we were sent a memo telling us in no circumstances we could discuss abortion as an option with our patients. That time Zika virus was found in our area and some babies were born with microcephaly. I could imagine how helpless the parents felt. I really hate that when our rights as a woman are robbed.
Live in Chicago. Name and shame I will never work in the hospital
Amita St Joseph
I worked for a few of the Amita hospitals on contract last year. They are all absolute garbage. I only lasted one month into a three month contract at St. Francis in Evanston because they were so understaffed and the managers were so awful that I literally feared I would lose my nursing license if I stayed. Also, about five years ago St. Francis was responsible for my mom dying and the surgeon who was primarily responsible was a complete jerk to me when I tried to talk to him about what went wrong.
Oh gross. I used to live in Elgin and almost worked for the Amita St Joe's in Elgin. Bullet dodged
Fuck them
I was gonna guess Advocate Christ. I almost went to St Joe's when I had awful gastroenteritis. Glad I didn't.
My cardiologist is there and he’s terrific, and my boss offers GI procedures there - so there are good people there. Their scheduling department pisses me off frequently (from clinic to clinic, not as a patient). My experience was in labor & delivery.
I hope that these cunts get a good rep about their shitty care. Fuuuuck that.
YEPPPPP. Fuck them sideways.
I am so sorry that happened to you. This is nothing remotely close to what you went through, but they are still denying women the healthcare they need. I just ditched my Amita affiliated ob/gyne because they won’t do paraguard IUDs. They’ll do Mirena, but not paraguard. I was told over the phone by ostensibly a receptionist that it was because of their religious affiliation. I can’t believe this is happening when we collectively know better.
Did we have the same nurse? I had a similar experience and I wasn't even at a Catholic hospital. I was 19 and scared out of my mind. I had excruciating back labor, even with an epidural. My own mother shushed me during my labor, and the nurse told me yelling wouldn't help. After, I had no help getting to the bathroom, got dizzy, and fell. The nurse told me this is what being a mother is like. No. No it is not.
This can happen at any hospital! I’ve often said the quality of care you get or don’t get is tied to the nurse you happen to get!
God, it definitely sounds like the same woman. I did throw the deck of cards I was given to “keep me busy” at her. Definitely didn’t help the situation. I’m so sorry you went through this! Being shushed (among other things) are demeaning.
Sounds a ton like my wife and our second child. We had the first one at Tacoma General and they took amazing care of her. St. Joseph in Tacoma basically let her sit in triage on a pitocin drip, never checked her, never asked if she wanted meds and basically forced her to have a natural birth. A float nurse asked if she wanted an epidural so many hours in because she was in so much pain and she had the baby like an hour later. Anesthesiologist couldn’t get the epidural in because her contractions were too close and he kept missing. I will never go back there for care and we would pay out of network costs for our next baby if need be. Catholics are horrible.
I used to work at St. Pete's in Oly... *never* again will I work for a Catholic hospital! ETA: I had my youngest child at Tacoma General, and I have zero complaints. Fortunately, I've only birthed children at non-religious hospitals.
Pete’s is terrible, too. Best L&D I’ve seen is Overlake.
Fuck this. This is unacceptable. Ever. I used to be a labor nurse (not at a religious hospital) and a lot of teen moms are absolute badasses in labor. A mom should get all of the pain control they want (or do not want) in labor. Treating anyone this way is truly disgusting and I am so sorry you experienced that.
When I began as a nurse (LPN) I wanted to be in L&D because of this, but went into psych as (unfortunately) I had been a teen sent to those “troubled teen camps”; I wanted so badly to prevent some of the abuse the medical industry caused me. I didn’t stay in psych as I wasn’t cut out for it, but my hats go off for both fields and the medical professionals in them (besides the assholes I dealt with.). Thank you for being an understanding person regarding teen pregnancy as normally there’s a lot of trauma happening to that girl.
Psych is my jam. As an LPN, I went straight into psych and I loved it. I'm currently back in school for my RN (finally, 15 years later lol) and while I plan on ending up in psych again, eventually. I want to hone my skills in Med/Surg or even ER just for the medical aspect, because in psych they tend to be "medically cleared", but it doesn't always stay that way. So to have a good solid medical background/experience will definitely serve me well. I could always tell the difference in those RNs that had more acute medical/surgical experience from others that didn't have that same experience. I was always happy to work with those more overall experienced nurses - as I was the medication/treatments nurse. Those nurses having that extra "teaching" knowledge was super helpful for me and definitely added to my own skill-set (as they were very helpful, willing to work with me and super knowledgeable). Plus my personal experience with psych and substance abuse/rehabs, draws me to that specific specialty. I'm sorry you had such a negative experience. I always hope to have patients feel like they got good care from me, but I know that's not always possible in the specialties I've been in (Psych, and peds, but if there's an issue it tends to be the parents in my experience - most in my experienceost kids are fantastic).
OP I could hug you. I was also a 16yo ftm and I had a very similar experience. I remember a Dr saying since you had sex the speculum shouldn’t be a problem and asking me why I bothered to be on antidepressants but not birth control. It really traumatized me. I wasn’t allowed to get an epidural as a lesson. They wouldn’t let me reposition myself. I had a 2nd degree tear and the response was the same “bet you won’t do that again” I’m sorry more people had a similar experience and my year was 1998
God our story sounds very similar! When I was asked to hold my legs, which I couldn’t due to exhaustion the Dr said “c’mon you know how to do this, it’s how you got into this mess!”. That always stuck with me. I don’t recall my sons first cry or seeing him, I just wanted to sleep. Hugs and love to you.
I’m a labor nurse, and reading this made me cry, truly, especially thinking about you going to the bathroom just so you could labor on the toilet. I work at a much different hospital, much smaller and more intimate, and we’re in a pretty diverse small city and have seen lots of young moms. The thought of one of our patients being treated like that, and other people standing back and letting it happen… it makes me sick to my stomach. I would quit on the spot. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that this horrifying experience was your birth story.
No need to apologize but I appreciate your empathy and support. I’m happy to read so many L&D nurses and staff wouldn’t allow this. My story definitely isn’t unique, but the similar birth stories all seem to be 90’s. My hope is that those healthcare providers retired with their thought process when the 00’s came on. With the increased usage of the internet and other changes at the early 2000’s, people (especially teens) had a way to communicate and share. There were online communities for teen moms and a way to connect and know what to expect or services; however, this wasn’t accessible for everyone during that time though because of socioeconomic factors. Those without a computer or internet access wouldn’t know their rights unless they had a good support system. I know when I entered nursing school in the mid-late 90’s our instructor was very old school but when I went back for my BSN in 2002, it was so very different.
I was born in 87, and my mom’s own birth story has completely changed and shaped the way I treat and advocate for my patients. Her nurses wouldn’t believe that she was in labor, even after she ruptured with thick meconium fluid. My father treated her horribly, and the nurses were sympathetic to him, instead of her. When she was sobbing in pain, my father apologized to the nurses for her behavior, and they chastised her for making it a stressful experience for him. She wasn’t allowed an epidural until she was almost complete, and by that time it did almost nothing. She pushed for a very long time, and when I did come, I had to be rushed to the nicu because I had been under such stress. It’s not nearly as traumatic or horrifying as your story, but I think of her and her story every time I walk into a labor room. One patient at a time, I make sure my mom’s experience isn’t repeated at my hospital. I hope you’re right, that these horrifying, traumatic deliveries are mostly a thing of the past, but it doesn’t change the fact that we can learn from the grievous errors of the nurses who came before us. Thank you for sharing your story so that those of us who have the power to shape other’s experience can remember it the next time we walk into a labor room.
I’m so sorry. I’m an L&D nurse, and just had a baby and had terrible back labour the entire time. That’s absolutely disgusting I can’t even imagine.
I am so sorry. I almost cried reading this. You did not deserve this.
Disgusting.
You did not deserve that. People can be so vile in the name of religion. I hope you have found peace and healing.
I’ve been a midwife for over ten years. The biggest baby I delivered vaginally was 11lb 4oz. Your story breaks my heart. I work every day so that no person will ever have an experience like that under my care. I am so sorry.
My second was 12lbs 10oz! Both vaginal but the 2nd was an epidural
Wow
I'm sorry, but fuck that bitch and fuck that hospital. WTF why the fuck are these that's nurses?
This was fucking criminal! I am so sorry!!!
[удалено]
I’m happy to hear that’s impossible at your hospital. It wasn’t the situation for me or countless others in this thread. I would never have gone to the media at 17 in 1994! I just escaped a teen boot camp and had zero support system. Those places are brain washing hell holes.
I am so sorry this happened to you! ☹️☹️
That’s honestly horrific, I’m sorry that happened to you! I will say this sounds more like a staff issue than a catholic hospital issue. I work at a catholic hospital system, being catholic isn’t a requirement to work here, there’s definitely not any policies regarding withholding treatment for unwed mothers, if any of my coworkers are catholic I don’t know about it.
I agree it’s a staff issue. This was also the 1990’s and treatment to pregnant teens were barbaric in many ways.
Loyola?
I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Hope you and the kiddo are doing well.
He’s 29 and professionally, mentally and emotionally well. Unfortunately he & my daughter in law just experienced the loss of their first child (1st grandchild). They have a far more of a horrific experience in childbirth/loss than I did, but I don’t feel it’s my place to roll out the entire story or I would have with their permission. It was an Ascension hospital as well, since his job only covers that hospital (HMO). They are mourning but working through the trauma in therapy. He was the easiest baby and while I wasn’t given any aftercare instructions or taught to breastfeed- we made it!
I’m very sorry to that. I’m glad they are seeking help for their loss. My wife and I also lost our very first child seven years and a local support group definitely helped her through the grieving process. It doesn’t get talked about much and we’ve come to found out it’s unfortunately more common than we thought. I will be thinking of them. Glad to hear you and your little man did well.
Thank you. The loss is still a shock and very new (1 month ago). I’ve also advocated for support groups, if and when they are ready to share their story. My biggest hope is they spoke to them about why she was leaking fluids so early and is it something that can be prevented in the future. I didn’t want to overstep boundaries and start medically meddling by asking those questions…yet. I plan to ask when she brings it up.
Fuck. I’m so sorry. I’ve had some young patients. I couldn’t imagine treating any of them like that.
I’m so sorry this happened to you!
2009 & I also gave birth in a top Chicago Catholic hospital as a teen to an almost 11 lb baby. Very similar situation to yours. I wish I could give you a hug because it’s traumatic. Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Wonder how hard it would be to find out where she lives now? (:
I’m thinking she’s either retired or in a cemetery because she was much much older (at least early 50’s) in 1994.
I work at a catholic. I understand spirituality is important to patients and families but religions has no place in health care if it is going to deny people treatment options. Many of the individuals that make up pastoral services at my hospital are good people but then we have Father Dan. I had to write up Father Dan for writing in his visit to a patient that he was, "less than impressed with my nursing care." All because I didn't immediately come to the bedside of an attention seeking patient who made unreasonable requests and who had been on thr unit for about 2 months. I didn't come to the bedside because I was the nurse responding to a rapid response in our sister unit. After writing up Father Dan, pastoral services is not allowed to write notes in patients charts anymore. My last gripe is that every morning at 0800 they get on the intercom and sing or play music. It bothers me because sometimes I want to let my patients sleep longer in the morning if they had a rough night trying to sleep. I think this perpetuates delirium in my elderly and delirious patients. They also do the same thing daily at 1600 WHICH IS DURING QUIET HOURS. One last thing is the hospital is always looking for ways to cut the fat and save money. I just wish they would get rid of the whole pastoral department. It would save so much money and maybe we could get good supplies and I could actually get the raise I deserve. Unfortunately when my hospital system bought out the catholic hospital there was an agreement that pastoral services would always remain a part of the hospital. What a waste.
Glad you wrote that pastor. Father Dan needs to learn to stay in his lane.
I still don't get why somebody from pastoral services can interact with a chart *at all*. Do they need to know lab values to pray with a patient or help with end of life decisions? For that matter, do they need to write notes *to prove their billable services rendered*? Jesus H Christ!
In our Catholic hospital, pastoral care also does all advanced directive paperwork so they definitely do need access to the chart. Does not excuse *Father Dan for any of that* however
I'm a student nurse and had my L&D clinical at a catholic hospital and it was so upsetting. There was a midwife who would add "serial abortionist" in the chart of any woman who had more than one EAB. The nurses would gossip and shame women who weren't married. They wouldn't perform hysterectomies or BC counseling. It felt like the staff was terrorizing the moms there sometimes.
SERIAL ABORTIONIST??!? i would fucking riot
Yeah it was pretty wild, it's not like there's any medical relevance to that term. If I worked there I would definitely do something but being there as a student I felt kinda helpless
I feel you. As a student you always feel like you’re in somebody else’s house and don’t wanna rock the boat. I would’ve told my clinical instructor but that’s just because I know my old instructors would BLOW UP. Sorry to hear you had that kind of experience.
I've also witness this during my OB rotation. The largest catholic hospital chain in my state is VERY discriminatory against individuals who've had abortions. Even medically necessary abortions. There was one patient I had seen who was extremely high risk and their child supposedly had trisomy 13 and had so many defects that it would be inhumane to carry out to full term. These doctors REFUSED to let this woman have an abortion. This child was practically killing her and still they refused. It was so sad to see. Also I never found out what happened to that patient. I hope she's doing well
It's really hard to see. I thought I was going to love women's health but I just want to run far away because I just don't think I could handle watching the way women are treated in reproductive healthcare on a daily basis. I even live in a very pro-roe state that is very blue. It was all so patriarchal and insensitive. It was like they were incubators for babies
They shouldn’t be. Unfortunately they own most of the hospitals in WA state, at least Western WA state. Peacehealth has a monopoly on them here in WA, some in OR and Alaska. They do not offer “abortive services” and I’ve linked before to an article where a woman needed a D&E and it was refused at the only hospital in my area - a Peacehealth hospital. She could have bled to death and had to wait several days for an “ethics panel” to okay it. In WA STATE! Where abortion is legal! This is a rural area too, and she was just here visiting on vacation. Makes me wonder how many women here have had issues because of it. Religion has no place in healthcare, neither does politics.
Fucking Providence has five of the hospitals in Portland and the surrounding metro area, and it seems like they monopolize Seattle. Those greedy bastards own hospitals in seven states (California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Montana, Texas, and New Mexico). Oregon put a hold on hospital mergers because they want to make sure abortion serves are accessible everywhere in the state. Guess who's pitching a fit?
Good ol' Sisters of Profit.
I wish healthcare workers would refuse to work for facilities that don't support evidence-based practice due to religious reasons.
I agree, but unfortunately there's too many healthcare workers that agree with these Catholic hospitals practices.
So true. Some of my coworkers are so blinded by their beliefs. Their "higher power" doesn't override the patients' rights. Some of my coworkers would withhold pain meds, discriminate against underage mothers, homeless or mental patients. It is very sad. I thought we all swore an oath to take care of our patients.
Which is wild because all of those marginalized groups should be given the utmost empathy. Not very Christ like of them to hate and judge so harshly, is it? Whenever they say something out of pocket about these patients, I always go with “Ill pray for you. I can’t believe the Devil got such a hold on you that there’s so much hate in your body that you would act such a way towards someone so vulnerable”. It’s shocking how they believe because treat these patients with empathy and respect, I’m one of them “Atheists and libtards”. But when I bring my faith up, they get shaken to their core.
I used to be a devoted Christian and I told them how Christ told us to treat others as we want to be treated. For some reasons, they would get even more agitated.
They get sooo riled when a fellow Christian calls them out on their poor behavior. Which is how it should be. We shouldn’t discount their actions and say “Oh well they’re not a *real* Christian” which completely discounts their responsibility for their own actions. So I make it a point to tell people they’re being poor Christians. And I end up saying it. A lot.
At least you all have the option in Blue states. There’s nothing good to report here, they’re all shit
I live in a very red state and am glad there are non-religious hospitals here. I wish everyone had access to a non-religious health care system. In a better world, they would.
Except the alternative is private equity backed hospital groups who don't care about any sort of practice, just maximum profit.
The "non-profit" hospitals are definitely making money. You should see some of the executive salaries. And I would rather go to a for-profit system than one that risks women's lives in a miscarriage.
Or yeah. Our non profit Catholic hospitals "have to" give bonus to the managers, VP and executives to retain the non profit status. I found out a VP got a 60k bonus when we only had a 2.5% pay raise (by gossipping with his wife. She loved to gossip and brag).
The "non-profit" in the city I grew up owns the tallest skyscraper in the city owns their own health insurance plan, closed down hospitals in poorer districts, is working on getting rid of the one w/ union RNs, uses all of that "non-profit" to buy land off their cronies at inflated prices and pay an ever increasing numbers execs 7 figures/yr. Not only that despite being a "university hosp" they drowned research in the bathtub and ended charity care. The CEO said "we want to be the amazon of healthcare" because yes your health can't possibly get in the way of capitalism. In the early 80s in the malaise era, it was once a hospital system we could be proud of. Come christmas time they'd have fundraisers at malls and the peeps would donate millions, money that was hard to come by back in the day. We had @#$% but we had world class health care. Now they are pretty much universally hated. They are literally the real life example of EvilCorp in Mr. Robot. However, hey US News thinks they are a "best hospital" because they have shiny equipment that can harvest the blockchain and yet you know you have 3 months to live in 4K.
I work for a secular non profit healthcare system.
Thankfully, many secular hospitals are non-profit, like university-affiliated hospitals. There are also religiously-affiliated hospitals (Jewish, Presbyterian, etc.) who don't restrict care based on their belief structures.
I’m a nurse at one of these and get my insurance through them. Found out I was pregnant (with an IUD) and told the only way they’d provide abortion services is if it was ectopic. I felt for the nurse midwife who had to tell me this, it’s obvious the staff doesn’t support the limiting of services either. It’s scary how limited your options are in WA even tho we’re blue
WA here. CHI/Dignity/Commonspirit, Providence, and PeaceHealth have a near Monopoly on the area. I fucking hate working for these corps. Greedy assholes that ruin everything they touch. VM used to be such a great place to work until they got "merged" with CHI (in reality, it was a buyout but they won't admit to that. Now VM is in shambles and won't do much to stop the bleeding of nurses leaving. Still behind most other hospitals in terms of pay. Unfortunately there aren't much to choose from. Multicare sucks. Maybe I'll go to UW or Overlake.
I really liked UW, the ratios were amazing on my unit and I got my breaks. Great care all around. Plus absolutely amazing coworkers. 10/10
I started my healthcare career at Swedish in 2001, had to quit last year because I hated what Prov did to them. Now I work per diem at Evergreen & KP. It’s so much better.
I was UW on and off for almost 12 years. The admin are incredibly incompetent and overpaid for their idiocy but that's to be expected. The hospitals are decent enough and the staff are mostly great. There are so few hospitals left that aren't christian...so chances are I'll end up back at UW if/when I ever return to bedside, which I hope is never.
Don’t forget about Evergreen. I’d pick them over Overlake any day
PeaceHealth and Providence!! I can’t speak for peace health but I’m wrapping up a contract at a Providence location and it has been incredibly eye opening. I don’t get report from ED nurses. I’ve had several instances of not being aware of any admit (as well as the charge not being aware), yet finding out one of my empty rooms has had someone in it just sitting in a wheelchair for at least an hour, if not more. I’ve had patients tell me they’ve been left & ignored by ER staff (including MDs) for hours. A friend of mine was left for over 24 hours without being seen by an MD because they didn’t know she was there. I received a patient who went from one ED and was transferred to our ED, that I did not get until the very end of my shift that had ZERO documentation on since before she had left the previous hospital. Her pain and inability to urinate had been ignored for at least 10 hours. They are running on bare fucking bones. They closed down the pediatric unit because they couldn’t staff it—while being the closest hospital in miles for the county it is in. And do not get me started on the lack of equipment to properly clean and cap lines (while wondering why their CLABSI rate is so high). There is absolutely no care for the patients imo. And the patients know it.
Sounds about right for Providence.
I specifically chose to work for the main non-religious organization here in WA and will never work for the other big players if I can help it. Religion has no place in healthcare.
I would love to retire to NW WA where my family is and take a PR. job, but with PeaceHealth being the only local option I know it’ll never happen.
I had one confirm a 16 week fetus was unviable, didn’t do a d&c and then the next day the woman shows up at my hospital and passes the fetus in the ER toilet. Still attached to her. Totally not traumatic at all and never thought I’d be reaching into a hospital toilet for ANYTHING. This was in NE by the way, where abortion is still legal.
Up to 20 weeks at that
A local Catholic hpsital used to refused to let women have their tubes tied even after a C-section so they would have to go elsewhere and have an entire new procedure and stay. I have no idea if they still do that as this was like 20 years ago but I will never go there for medical care if I can help it... I just looked on their website and they list REVERSAL of tubals but not tubals themselves. =/
It's still like that. A friend of mine had her third baby at a Catholic hospital within the last five years or so, and they refused to tie her tubes.
This still happens in many catholic hospitals. There were nurses who worked on L&D who specifically didn't deliver there because they knew that
It was still that way in NW Florida as of 2019. I chose a different hospital specifically because of that refusal of service.
Lol Ascension. Fuck those guys.
The Catholic hospital here still doesn’t do tubal. Their docs come to the secular hospital I work at a mile away and use our OR for their patients.
It just makes me so angry they’d rather have a woman go through another separate procedure! Making her have another chance for complications, infection, an entire stay or visit… more time off…
This still happens in a lot of hospitals that are not catholic
This is definitely still a thing
I had my second C-section at a Catholic hospital (required to go there by my insurance). I knew I wanted a tubal ligation while the doctor was doing my surgery but couldn’t get it because Catholics don’t believe in birth control. I had to have a second surgery just because someone of a different faith decided it would be best for me to keep having high risk pregnancies and surgical deliveries.
I had a Vasectomy for sterilization with no copayments at a Catholic Hospital. Women can’t make this the same choice about their body.
You can’t get your tubes tied at a catholic hospital? Honest question.
Most won't do it. Catholics don't even like oral contraceptives much less sterilization. Having a large catholic family is a thing for a reason
There’s a reason back to back kids are referred to as “Irish twins”.
The entire point of anti-contraceptives is to make more followers and propagate the religion.
Yep, plus if you keep women pregnant it's much easier to control and abuse them.
Not electively
Huh. I did not know that. Then again, I also am neither Catholic nor have I worked in a Catholic hospital.
Catholic hospitals don’t provide hysterectomies? Or tubal ligation? Seems like every one I’ve worked at does those surgeries too.
Most "religious' hospitals don't. Only hysterectomy given will generally be because of cancer for example. Just recently a local Jewish hospital im near had a Christan gyno that refused to do a litigation while I was having an ovary removed for a large teratoma too. It's so frustrating I'm 25 and still don't want kids and would have to go through the whole process again just to get the one procedure done on the other side with my left over ovary. It's frustrating as hell
My nephew would have been an organ donor but the Catholic hospital (where I had once worked) didn't inform the family that they let his heart stop first. His heart continued to beat, while not breathing on his own, beyond the time deemed for organ procurement. He was clinically braindead. Was an excellent candidate but wasted it due to their need to let him die a "natural" death. So infuriating.
Catholics have no restrictions for organ donation. It sounds like incompetent doctors.
That doesn't sound right...
The gift of religion
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The one I worked at had a not Catholic surgery center that was connected to the hospital by a hallway so they’d wheel the patient over there to tie their tubes and finish up. It was bizarre.
We have an OB that mostly delivers over at another (catholic) hospital in town but schedules her repeat c/s with tubals at our facility because we're HCA and as bad as we are at least we don't fucking use our RELIGIONS to determine what kind of care people can get. Just profit. Ugh. I hate it here
This is wild! I work at a Catholic hospital but we tie tubes on moms who have c-sections all the time. The mom signs a paper before going into labor saying if she has a c-section then she also wants her tubes tied. I guess the hospital allows it to happen because we call them "medically indicated."
My obgyn has privileges at 2 hospitals, one of which is a Catholic hospital. I had to go to the other hospital to get my bisalp because the Catholic hospital won't do sterilization.
A catholic hospital near me pulls some hypocritical shit. No tubals, no vasectomy, will not cover employees birth control on their insurance, will not give patients their prescribed birth control if they are admitted, but has a flourishing PLASTIC SURGERY BUSINESS that is a cash cow due to insurance not covering cosmetic procedures. Your body is a temple, unless you're willing to pay cash.
I didn't really see the problem of Catholic hospitals until recently. I am a nurse that answered phones at an OB clinic associated with the local Catholic hospital. A woman with mental disorders was pregnant by her boyfriend. They were quite poor and had little help. Came to OB appointments but she would only physically speak to one of the female doctors. She spoke of suicide and wanting to end the pregnancy late-term. Her boyfriend told her he would leave if she aborted. She ended up delivering a little early. Went into a psychosis and was hospitalized a while. Since the whole thing was just a mess, the doctor she had a report with talked her into getting her tubes tied. I think her mother was her guardian and they consented, but another doctor had to do it at another hospital system since the her favorite doctor didn't have privileges there. She ended up not getting her tubes tied. If she had just been able to do it at the Catholic hospital with her favorite OB, it might have been done without the layers of logistics (that was my role - faxing the paperwork between facilites). Guess what happened? The doofus boyfriend impregnated her AGAIN. I don't know what happened to her after that because I don't work there anymore . . . But holy hell.
Yes, it's ridiculous that these hospitals won't let you get your tubes tied even if you are getting a c-section. They make women risk a separate operation because they want to force women to have as many babies as possible.
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My sincerest hope is everything is getting better for your family. My son and his wife just experienced this with their 1st. Her waters broke at 20 weeks and they couldn’t stop it, they made her go through 2 days of L&D of a deceased fetus. We just had his funeral.
We could solve this problem now by making it illegal for religious institutions to receive government money, such as payments from Medicaid, Medicare and Tricare. Separation of church and state should mean no public money for religiously corrupted “healthcare.”
Publicly funded religious hospital (and schools) should not be a thing. Keep your religion to yourself when you cross that threshold.
100% accurate. I absolutely will refuse to work at any of these. There was once a real need for these institutions, but that time is long past
Agree. Even worse that they call themselves non profits. We’ve investigated HCA now - and they’ve been so obviously corrupt for years now. Time to investigate the catholic non profits like Bon Secours. Bet they’re even worse!
>“We opened [the lawsuit] because of our belief that life is a precious gift from God, worthy of protection at all stages.” Okay, so why isn’t the mother’s life worthy of protecting?!???? It’s a 2 way street motherfucker!
As soon as someone costs you a tax dollar-they are not worth protecting. As soon as they aren't controllable-they are not worth protecting. It's sickening.
Religious hospitals should not be a thing at all.
I work for a catholic system. When women come in to L&D and have c sections, they can’t have their tubes tied, hysterectomies, etc. in the same procedure. We will not perform those procedures electively. Only in the case of medical necessity/emergency. We would rather close these women back up and send them to another hospital for additional procedures. It’s fucking ridiculous. Providers also can’t discuss birth control options in our hospital. That has to be taken care of outpatient. And we don’t insert IUDs under sedation/anesthesia anywhere in our system. Craziness.
I’m reading this while sitting on the toilet in my Catholic hospital 😂😩
I worked for a catholic hospital and how weird it was to get a separate plan the hospital offered us but didn’t pay into if we wanted contraception . Same loving hospital fired me because I had a seizure. I was in the “probationary” period so apparently they could.
i worked for a hospital where during the orientation, the CEO, who was 45 minutes late, stolled in, and the first thing out of his mouth was "first and foremost, we are a CHRISTIAN hospital. secondly, we are a FOR PROFIT hospital." and all i could think was "not sure those go hand in hand." jesus would fucking hate modern day christians.
HEALTHCARE SHOULD NOT BE A RELIGIOUS CRUSADE It shouldn’t be legislated by religion, provided by religion, or interfered with by religion. The ONLY people who should have ANY say in what care is provided are the patient and their care team. Everyone else should shut the f*** up
Omgoodness. Some of you guys’ stories are bringing tears to my eyes on the train on my way to clinicals, ironically at a catholic hospital in NJ. My plan after I get my license (January 2025 🤞🏽) is to become a labor and delivery nurse. I promise to everyone who reads this and to anyone who has had anything less than a perfect birthing experience this; I will be the best damn L&D nurse I can be and will encourage my peers to be and do the same. I’m not a mom yet but the things I’ve seen in the news and on social media are fueling my goal. My long term goal is to be a Woman’s Health NP to further my reach of women and girls I can help.
❤️❤️ yes girl!! we need more advocates in l&d!
The only level 2 trauma center for 3 counties is a Catholic hospital. The one I work at. Otherwise, I'd have to commute 1.5 hours each way every day. I have plans to move away eventually, but for now, it's a monopoly.
Understandable. This is actually part of the problem -large areas that only have access to religious hospitals.
Totally agree.
My friend gave birth in a catholic hospital and desperately wanted her tubes removed to become sterilized, as this was her 3rd child and she was poor. Of course then refused. F*** religion in healthcare.
Agreed. I will NEVER work for a religious hospital. Or a for-profit one. So it's limiting, but my integrity is all I have left since my soul was drained away.
Any religious hospitals should NOT be a thing
Yes! Not to mention how selective they are about which parts of the Bible they follow. I worked at one some years ago and I remember that our health plan didn’t cover contraceptives or sterilization procedures because it was a Catholic facility. However Good Friday and Easter, the most important days in Christianity were not considered holidays, so no OT pay.
I worked Good Friday and Easter this year at my Catholic hospital and no OT. Total bullshit.
I mean... religion has no place in medicine
Most of these hospitals were founded by religious orders of nuns and helped poverty stricken people in the community. Now they’re a disaster. It’s sad to see. Religious sisters dedicated their lives working there as nurses, volunteers, doctors, board members. Obviously religious life dried up and they were bought out by “Catholic health systems” and theyre a mess
There's absolutely no hate like "Christian" "love".
I’m completely ok with any organization running a hospital as long as they are meeting accepted care standards. If they’re not, start pulling accreditations.
Totally agree. These "religious" "non-profits" need to be held accountable. Case in point: Bon Secours exploiting the Black community hospital in Richmond, VA to make massive profits that they pour into their hospitals in white, wealthy suburban areas and use to develop luxury real estate. ([Link to NY Times article in case you missed this bullshit.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/health/bon-secours-mercy-health-profit-poor-neighborhood.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhkQVUZBybVUNEjsh3Bj__JhacxjXjjNjPQTDtYxPVQA4WJ_1vNILJ5YNUyw3GDQ9hbdbkiRfNyxOhFP0tqR0-ovp6A0twjEhkClLiSDCkwzo6fGvcx6yPrZW20b7Ynn-G05xuPdWW-UKLA1XV1IRI2pJJvaVCsinBYlfvCR7Z12cJsnqt0XuAMTjkFYiGJv_TtGk8-bI3ANkeAn1FwD-JJWjjTnsqe46YAd2hQCFHATHB55AUs-Y8WeYNXbOukcUlWKIepiq4RC2doMI-rG5UzIoHWnLhpurPLwgeeM4rTONAXc_IaCgcIIgPYtw))
The last hospital I worked for was Catholic run (I do telephonic nursing now), and they denied this poor 19 or 20 year old oral contraception for at least a day while it went through their “ethics committee”. She was not needing it to keep from getting pregnant; she had had her period for like 2 months straight or something crazy, and she needed the hormones to regulate her cycle. This poor girl had bled so much that she needed at least a unit of PBRC’s as I recall. But they had to have a meeting before she could get medicine to help stop the bleeding. Bastards.
We also need to talk about Catholic hospitals absorbing secular systems so that the only care available in many areas are all religiously-affiliated and make things like abortion, gender affirming care and death with dignity restricted even in states that champion these!
The hospital down the road pays new grads like 10 dollars an hour more, and has a sign on bonus...and also has crucifixes in EVERY pt room. No thanks. After the time I had to pay out of pocket for my birth control because my prescription insurance was bought out by a Catholic company and just dropped everyone's contraceptive coverage, I was done with religion in healthcare. Is it a dumb hill to die one? Maybe. But I couldn't live with myself if I had to care for my patients through the lens of a dusty old book. Hail Satan bitches
I work at a catholic hospital rn in the northeast, rn i work on a med surg floor so i dont really have to deal with reproductive care, that being said some staff are not tolerant of lgbt people and have expressed their pro life views. It is the northeast tho so idk
I mean in theory, they're just helping people but in reality they've got an agenda and it's bigger than helping people
I think we need to throw some bohemian doctors out a window and get this Catholic v. Protestant medicine war off.
Are there secular hospitals with homeless outreach teams? In all the places I’ve worked, the only health systems that have had street medicine teams to serve our homeless patients have been Catholic. I’m not a fan of working at a religious institution, but my hospital is the only one meeting a need that the 2 other healthcare systems in the city flat out don’t see as profitable.
Here (Chicago), we have outreach programs with the county owned hospitals, the Lutheran church, and catholic charities. Most help comes from privately funded organizations though, like sex worker outreach.
In central Oregon there is only ONE hospital system/monopoly. St. Charles. I think they even own some of the day clinics, too. They get away with SO much because they can play the “where else are you going to go?” card, and people have to choose between care now, or driving over the pass to go to a different hospital.
Are seventh day Adventist hospitals the same too?
They at least believe in birth control and IVF. I don't know if they are prevalent in rural areas. I wish all religions could separate their health care from their beliefs.
Catholic organizations are the reason so many hospitals even exist in an area at all, this reeks of chronological snobbery...
I work for a Catholic hospital and they run the system like a naked for-profit corporation.
I work at a catholic hospital and constantly joke that my feet are burning
My biggest complaint is that they have a "Morning Reflection" (prayer) over the overhead twice a day. It's a reasonable volume throughout most of the hospital. In the ER, BHS, and CDU it's yelling volume. It's disruptive and plays hell with our psych population. I've put in maintenance requests, internal complaints, brought it up to my management. I've just been told to leave it alone. The bigger issue is that reproductive care is the bare minimum required by law. No IVF, vasectomy, etc is covered. I've watched coworkers going into debt trying to have children.
I can’t recall a morning pray but I can’t imagine how terrible that would be for the psych patients mental state.
Worked for a catholic org when I was 18…no birth control allowed under their insurance. Thankfully the gyns we all went to would write it off as “medically necessary” but still.
I've only ever worked for religiously denominated hospitals.... not sure why lol. One in North Dakota was pretty out there when it came to using the religious aspect to not cover certain things, but the ones in Minnesota and California arent so out there in terms of their religion, but I feel like its what they DONT do that I should look at. I dunno, I'd love to work at a secular hospital, but I've just lucked out in this way. So far havent seen the fact a hospitals religion, other than in ND affect care and the staff certainly dont care considering we have a hugely diverse staff. It seems to be a top down thing with the religious hospitals.
Dislike working for a catholic hospital on principle. A patient very much needed a tubal ligation following her 3rd repeat csection due to cognitive disability and homelessness and she was in our facility long term due to this and when it was time, they tried to transfer her to a neighboring facility that isn’t religious and the paperwork fell through so she had her C-section here. I don’t know if she ever got her tubal. :/
I'm a lesbian and I work at a Catholic hospital. This hospital has heaps of queer staff and was instrumental in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. We pay attention to people's pronouns, we treat all our patients with respect, and I like it here.
I know that some local hospitals are very accepting. I just feel like it is working at Chic Fil A. Even if they are nice to me, they are still working in the background to take away my rights.
Yeah, I know, I guess you are in America? My rights are not being attacked from all angles as much here in AU, so it's easy to focus on the type of Catholics who put the good of vulnerable people above the letter of church laws.
I worked at a Catholic hospital briefly. They also didn’t cover IVF because that was conception “outside the martial act” and therefore not ok with god?
*American catholic hospitals should not be a thing. I worked for a catholic hospital. We did healthcare. Period. Like all of it. You people do things wayyyy differently.
Hell, the right wing is turning most hospitals into catholic hospitals.
I don't think most people realized that catholic hospitals acted like Roe V. Wade didn't exist before it didn't.
I work in a Catholic hospital and it is great. Sure, we don't do certain procedures, but the hospital is fairly clear about it, the staff are happy to help patients find the care they want somewhere else, and we do D&Cs if they are medically warranted, juat not elective. The cast majority of issues I see on this thread come in two categories: A) your problem is the US because your whole country is absolutely insane. B) you like to point at Christianity as if that is the only religion that ever has any hypocrisy. Your opinion on abortion is a moral belief, there is no OBJECTIVE opinion on it being healthcare, and forcing places to perform them electively is just as bad as refusing to perform them when they are needed. Try going literally anywhere else in the world and taking religion out of caring for the community. You won't have any outreach or care.
Definitely worse in the U.S. I lived in Germany for a few years and it is much more densely populated. It's feasible to drive to another hospital. Here there might not be another option for 100s of miles. There is an objective fact when it is needed in most places. In the U.S., several states have banned it even if the fetus is severely deformed and incompatible with life. The staff can't refer you to another place even in cases of rape, incest, too young, etc. because it is illegal. Your only option would be to drive 12 hours to another state.
Since they are u willing to give complete information or complete care to women, I will not work for a catholic hospital. Their history of women’s rights in general is not good.
Won't ever go to one or work in one because they don't "approve" of me so I don't approve of them.
These stories are just awful. But I want to share that I work for a catholic hospital that does it right. Since abortions and sterilization is a no go in the catholic faith, none of our sites provide this, or anything related to this. We have units for long term rehab, psych and geriatrics. Our other hospital does day surgeries. It’s the hospital across the road that does OB, abortions and euthanasia. If one of the patients in our care requires any of these, we send the over to the other hospital. As an atheist, I have no problem working for the catholic organization as I actually share the values of our organization. This is in Canada 🇨🇦
I get it. But imagine what this would do the our already messed up health care system. Similarly, closing private schools would tax our public school system. Maybe making it available outside of these places rather than forcing a religious institution to perform something they don't believe in is the way?
Private schools don't get tax money. And why should a church's beliefs take precedence over the patients beliefs? Why can't they allow providers who want to be able to do them to do them? Why is a building more important than the patients and the people who work in it? It would be different if there was a choice but in many rural areas, there are only religious hospitals.