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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Lois Uttley, MPP (May 2002), Mergerwatch, Family Planning Advocates of NYS, 17 Elk Street, Albany, NY 12207, 5184368408, lois@mergerwatch.org
Abstract: Religiously-sponsored hospitals in the United States bill the government more than $40 billion a year, while using religious doctrine to restrict medical care, especially reproductive health services. A new national study from the MergerWatch Project at Family Planning Advocates of NYS details the amount of public funding (Medicare, Medicaid and other sources) being utilized by religious hospitals, the religious restrictions these facilities place on reproductive care (such as bans on contraception, sterilization, abortion and infertility services) and the impact on patients. The study recommends that policymakers act to attach "strings" to the public funding by requiring hospitals to: Protect patients’ right to informed consent by ensuring they are informed of all treatment options (including those banned at religious hospitals); ensure that physicians and other caregivers are able to discuss all reproductive health treatment options with patients; require advance disclosure of religious restrictions on hospital services; require referrals for non-emergency reproductive health services; and require provision of emergency services, such as emergency contraception for rape survivors. Instead of rushing to enact still more special "refusal" rights for religious hospitals, policymakers should be asking for greater accountability from hospitals that receive taxpayers funds and hold licenses to service entire communities, including patients who do not share the religious views of hospital sponsors, the study concludes.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Reproductive Health, Access to Health Care
Related Web page: www.mergerwatch.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: This presentation will discuss a new national study just issued by the MergerWatch Project of Family Planning Advocates of NYS, a nonprofit reproductive health advocacy organization
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.