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Catholic health care for a broken arm: a cast and new shoesPosted: 08.25.09 A broken arm gets you a cast – and a new pair of shoes. A pain in your right side leads to an appendectomy – and a new shirt. That’s at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C., where the homeless find quality care in the medical units and practical assistance at the Sister’s Clothes Closet. Such typifies the Church’s care. The Catholic Church walks the walk on health care. Its voice deserves to be heard. The Church seeks four things: 1. Respect for life and dignity, from conception to death 2. Access for all, especially the poor and legal immigrants 3. Pluralism, both through freedom of conscience and a variety of health care options 4. Equitable cost, applied fairly across the spectrum of payers. The Church does not want abortion. Abortion does not cure people; it snuffs out human life. The Hyde Amendment precludes using federal funds for abortion. The same restriction ought to govern programs emerging from health care reform. If there is anything that will sink a health care reform bill, it’s including a procedure that more than half the nation finds morally and fiscally repugnant. Americans do not want to make a fiscal sacrifice for the taking of innocent life. Catholic hospitals provide threads of steel in the nation’s health care fabric. They serve everyone. In Baltimore, for example, when the city was yielding to urban blight, Mercy Medical Center refused to join the exodus from the inner city. While others escaped, Mercy Medical, named for its founders, the Sisters of Mercy, stayed. Today it is the city’s first line of defense for injured police and firefighters. Mercy Medical’s commitment to the poor can be measured in real dollars. The hospital and its “sister” long-term care facility, Stella Maris, in the most recent fiscal year (2008), in fact, underwrote the cost of care for persons unable to pay for hospital, hospice or long-term care services to the amount of $39.8 million dollars Catholic hospitals respect the life of everyone from the just-conceived to those fading into the eternal light. Quality care rules regardless of a patient’s financial status, race or religion. One out of every six patients needing a hospital admission goes to a Catholic hospital. They cost about $84.6 billion to run, including at least the $5.7 billion worth of services these hospitals donate across America each year. Many were started by nuns when public hospitals wouldn’t provide care for the indigent. Today the focus on those most in need continues, as people of all socioeconomic levels find care not just in these hospitals but also in their outreach services in the community. The Church’s commitment in the U.S. shows through 624 hospitals, 499 long-term nursing care facilities, 164 home health agencies, 41 hospice organizations and 773 other health care facilities such as those that offer assisted living, adult day care and senior housing. The American Hospital Association reported in its 2007 annual survey that Catholic hospitals provide more than 16.9 million emergency room visits and more than 92.7 million outpatient visits in one year. Catholic hospitals counted 5,542,314 admissions the same year, notes to the Catholic Health Association. Rooted in respect for the intrinsic dignity of human life the Church has the moral authority to speak out on health care. Its extensive reach adds further authority born of knowledge and experience. For health care reform, Congress needs to hear the Church out. Sister Walsh is director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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