In Brief: CMA Joins Reproductive Rights Lawsuit Against Dignity Health; Colusa Regional Medical Center Closes
CMA Joins Reproductive Rights Lawsuit Against Dignity Health
Perhaps the most powerful healthcare lobby in California is trying to join a lawsuit against San Francisco-based hospital chain Dignity Health regarding its restrictions against tubal ligations during maternal deliveries.
The California Medical Association, which represents some 41,000 of the state’s physicians, filed a motion to joing the lawsuit against Dignity earlier this week, records show.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued Dignity last year on behalf of patient Rebecca Chamorro. She had tried to obtain a tubal ligation while undergoing a C-section at Dignity’s Mercy Medical Center in Redding.
The procedure had been approved by her physician, but blocked by Dignity. The Catholic-oriented hospital chain had said the tubal ligation violates its ethical and religious directives.
Catholic hospital chains in the past had permitted tubal ligations being performed during C-sections under the rationale that the primary medical procedure was not sterilization. However, they have tried to eliminate such procedures in recent years. And they have received far harder patient pushback as more facilities come under Catholic affiliations as the result of mergers and acquisitions. Dignity owns or operates 39 hospitals in three states, most of them in California.
Although courts have upheld the rights of Catholic-oriented caregivers from performing sterilization procedures such as tubal ligations, Chamorro claims in her suit that there are no other hospitals within a 70-mile radius of her home that would perform the procedure, which is among the reasons why she chose to file suit. The ACLU has also argued that Dignity’s refusal to perform tubal ligations during a C-section violates a California law prohibiting the corporate practice of medicine; essentially, furnishing a non-medical reason for not performing a medical service.
Dignity issued a statement saying it was disappointed by the CMA’s decision to join the suit.
“Our hospitals are open with physicians seeking practice privileges about the services we offer and do not offer,” Dignity said. “Our Catholic hospitals make clear that they operate in accordance with the ethical and religious directives for Catholic healthcare services.”
Colusa Regional Medical Center Closes
Colusa Regional Medical Center closed for business on April 22 due to ongoing financial difficulties.
The three clinics operated by Colusa Regional will remain open, operated under an agreement reached last week with Adventist Health.
Orthopaedic Institute Opens Ambulatory Center For Children
The Orthopaedic Institute for Children has opened an ambulatory surgery center for patients. The 13,000-square-foot facility includes two operating rooms and six preoperative and postoperative surgical suites.
The institute, formerly known as the Orthopaedic Hospital, is affiliated wth UCLA Health.
