It’s bad enuff if some holier-than-thou pharmacy clerk douchenozzle refuses to sell you some Trojan rubbers because Jesus. And it’s uber-worse when a religiously affiliated hospital REFUSES to give potentially life-saving care to a woman because it means terminating a pregnancy that isn’t even viable. And the biggest bite of all is when a court of the United States rules that they have every right to do that.
That’s what happened to Tamesha Means, a woman who had the misfortune to go to the Catholic-affiliated Mercy Health Partners in Muskegon, Michigan when she began to miscarry 18-months into her pregnancy. Despite her scary-as-shit symptoms, the hospital refused three times (Luke 22:31-62!!) to treat her, telling her to go home and “wait and see” what happened.
That’s because putting an end to Tamesha’s suffering would have meant putting an early end to the 18-month old fetus she was carrying–and which couldn’t possibly survive the miscarriage that was occurring anyway!
And THAT is because Catholic-affiliated hospitals don’t just follow the Hippocratic Oath and other quaint doctrines of medical ethics. They also follow the instructions of the United Conference of Catholic Bishops, a collection of old white guys in funny hats who never have sex. Their instructions are in turn based on shit that people came up with in a desert 3,000 years ago. Oh, and when the stuff from the desert conflicts with medical ethics, guess who wins!
And then the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals–which is supposed to base its decisions on the work of a bunch of guys from the late 1700’s who wore different funny hats and had sex with slaves–instead turned around and went with the pointy-hat sexless guys who do what the desert people said!
In laymen’s terms, “Bye Tamesha!” Sorry about the pain, vaginal bleeding, and infection. Walk it off!
Courts allow religiously-affiliated hospitals to deliver substandard care or no care at all to women whose lives may be at risk–if providing that care violates their picky religious sensibilities. It’s time to hold these hospitals to the same standards of care that “real” hospitals have to meet. No more of this Holy Shit!
