Jewish Hospital has been a pillar of Louisville's small but active Jewish community since the early 1900s, founded in part to protect Jewish doctors from workplace discrimination and patients from evangelization by Christian medical workers. A century later, local Jews point with pride to the hospital's medical reputation—particularly its pioneering work in hand, heart and liver transplants. But some Jews are now raising questions about the pending merger of the hospital, which is struggling financially, into a corporation that would be considered an official ministry of the Roman Catholic Church. Is Jewish Hospital becoming a Catholic hospital? No, maintained Gerald Temes, MD, an appointee for the board that would govern the state's largest healthcare system if the merger is granted final approval. "Jewish Hospital will always maintain its identity and its heritage, and there will always be a Jewish Hospital," said Temes, a surgeon who is Jewish and who has been affiliated with the hospital for four decades.
