There are a number of reasons why many individuals and organizations have opposed or had serious concerns about the proposed acquisition of University of Louisville Hospital by Catholic Health Initiatives. The transfer of a state and public asset to a private one, the separation of church and state, the alignment of the entire medical training and clinical operations of a public medical school with a religious organization, transferring a substantial portion of Kentucky’s healthcare system to an out-of-state caretaker, or agreeing to onerous anticompetitive restrictions with other Kentucky health care providers and educational institutions are among them. Any one of these issues provides sufficient grounds for rejecting the proposed business arrangement.
Perhaps the most emotionally controversial of these problems is the agreement by the University of Louisville to subjugate itself to some of the religious teachings and policy of the Roman Catholic Church as the basis for the provision of medical care in its teaching and clinical facilities. The University of Louisville has placed its operations at ground zero of an abortion controversy that has torn asunder the civil fabric of our community. Because it is defined even in the Sponsorship Agreement as an instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Kentucky; the University of Louisville has put Governor Beshear, Attorney General Conway, State Auditor Luallen, Mayor Fischer, and other governmental offices and officials into the most difficult position possible. I do not know what these officials have been told in their private briefings by the business partners, but I heard the hospital system representatives say publicly that medical treatment of women would hardly be affected at all; with the exception of certain procedures the University has contractually agreed not to do. To my and many ears, their protestations and promises changed from day to day and place to place. Requests for the specific contractual language and other relevant agreements were refused in an off-hand manner. To hear the advocates speak, the implications of their business decision on our community and on women’s health care, and the magnitude of the compromise of our institutional academic and medical ethics and independence were a “small thing.” I cannot agree. Continue reading “Analysis of Hospital Acquisition Sponsorship Agreement: Catholic Health Directives.”
