"This is really about whether our client's doctor is allowed to do his job or whether there's an obstacle put in his way based on Dignity Health's religious directives," said Elizabeth Gill, a senior attorney for the ACLU of Northern California. It plans to appeal the decision.
This article originally appeared in California Healthfax.
A California judge upheld the right of Mercy Medical Center to deny a patient's request to have tubal ligation performed, a decision the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California said it plans to appeal.
A San Francisco Superior Court judge on January 6 denied an emergency motion request filed by the ACLU as part of a lawsuit against Redding-based Mercy Medical Center and hospital owner Dignity Health. The lawsuit filed on behalf of patient Rebecca Chamorro and the group Physicians for Reproductive Health in December challenged Mercy Medical Center's decision to not perform a tubal ligation procedure for Chamorro because performing the procedure would violate Dignity Health's religious tenets.
"We are pleased by the court's decision to deny the ACLU's request, which will allow Dignity Health to continue to operate consistent with the ethical and religious directives for Catholic Health Care Services," said a Dignity Health representative in a statement.
The ACLU of Northern California said it plans to appeal the decision and move forward with its lawsuit. "This is really about whether our client's doctor is allowed to do his job or whether there's an obstacle put in his way based on Dignity Health's religious directives," said Elizabeth Gill, a senior attorney for the ACLU of Northern California.
Gill said the lawsuit challenges the health system's stance that a public hospital can refuse to perform some medical procedures if it violates directives from the Catholic Church.
"The refusal of hospitals to allow doctors to perform basic health procedures based solely on religious doctrine presents a real threat to a woman's ability to access healthcare," said Gill. "Patients seeking medical care from public institutions should not have to worry that religious doctrine rather than medical judgment will dictate what care they receive."
Dignity Health declined to discuss the lawsuit but said its refusal to perform the tubal ligation procedure is in keeping with its religious directives. It said procedures that induce sterility are reserved for situations where the "direct effect is the cure or alleviation of a present and serious pathology."
"In general, it is our practice to not provide sterilization services at Dignity Health's Catholic facilities in accordance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care services and the medical staff bylaws," a Dignity representative said in a statement. "As such, tubal ligations are not performed in Catholic hospitals."
The ACLU and Dignity Health had a similar dispute in August when the ACLU sent a demand letter to Dignity on behalf of patient Rachel Miller, who said Mercy Medical Center refused to allow her to have tubal ligation at the hospital. The hospital eventually allowed Miller to have the tubal ligation performed at the hospital, citing additional information provided by Miller's physician.
This isn't the first time a hospital in California has declined to perform procedures linked to reproductive rights. In 2013, Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach announced it would no longer perform elective abortions, a decision that drew protests from abortion rights groups. At the time, Hoag said it was performing fewer than 100 elective abortions a year and that it was choosing to discontinue a service that was readily available at other hospitals. The decision was announced shortly after Hoag entered an affiliation deal with the St. Joseph Health System.
In an April 2014 agreement, the state attorney general's office allowed Hoag to discontinue performing elective abortions on the condition that Hoag provide patients with information on other providers where the service was available. In a statement, the attorney general's office said the agreement "addresses the concerns that were raised and takes several affirmative steps to ensure women's access to reproductive healthcare."