A News-Based Satire by The Anonymous Guest Blogger
New York, New York, October 8, 2006
Special to The Dawn Patrol
The racial and ethnic composition of two New York neighborhoods indicates an urgent need for more abortions and sterilizations, according to reproductive rights experts [see original story below].
The comments were made in opposition to a proposal to retain Catholic medical restrictions after merging two Queens hospitals, Mary Immaculate in Jamaica and St. John's Hospital in Elmhurst.
"It's very clear to me that there is an unmet need for these reproductive services," said Lois Uttley, the director of The Merger Watch Project, a group supported by Planned Parenthood and The New York Civil Liberties Union, which monitors health care mergers involving Catholic hospitals.
Alice Berger, the vice president of Health Care Planning at Planned Parenthood, cited the diversity of Queens in reiterating Uttley's argument.
"The ethnic and racial diversity of these Queens neighborhoods, coupled with the need for comprehensive reproductive health services, indicates that these community hospitals should be made to broaden rather than restrict vital preventive services," Berger said.
Berger based her conclusion upon a comprehensive anthropological study tracking population trends among certain genetically-defined races and ethnicities. "The explosive growth in certain communities rivals that of the upstate deer population, indicating a need for the immediate implementation of reduction and weeding procedures," she said. Berger added that the researchers had conducted extensive interviews with the proposed subjects of the cleansing project, many of whom expressed concern that their numbers were out of control.
Original news article, from the Times Ledger:
Mary Immac abortion ban questionedThanks to Dan S. for retrieving the Times Ledgerarticle.
By Craig Giammona
10/05/2006
As the sale of two Queens hospitals to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center winds its way through the state approval process, a provision in the deal requiring Catholic medical restrictions to remain in place at both facilities is causing consternation among reproductive health advocates.
Wyckoff is attempting to purchase Mary Immaculate in Jamaica and St. John's Hospital in Elmhurst from Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers, which filed for bankruptcy protection last summer. Health care advocates and borough politicians are hopeful that the takeover, which received the blessing of a bankruptcy judge in June, will save both hospitals.
And while a decision is expected from the state sometime in November, reproductive health advocates are lobbying the Department of Health to nix a part of the deal that would require Wyckoff to operate both facilities under Catholic medical restrictions currently prohibiting contraceptive counseling, abortions, sterilizations and other reproductive services.
"It's very clear to me that there is an unmet need for these reproductive services," said Lois Uttley, the director of The Merger Watch Project, a group supported by Planned Parenthood and The New York Civil Liberties Union, which monitors health care mergers involving Catholic hospitals.
Uttley acknowledged that is important for both hospitals to stay open, but said she would like to see "more services."
Uttley recently told the State Hospital Review and Planning Commission's Project Review Committee that the two Queens hospitals should relinquish their Catholic identity when and if they are taken over by Wyckoff, which is a public hospital.
"The two hospitals in question will no longer be Catholic hospitals," she said, adding that if the current plan is approved, it will represent "a most unfortunate missed opportunity to improve the health care of thousands of women and families who rely on these two hospitals for their health care needs."
Alice Berger, the vice president of Health Care Planning at Planned Parenthood, cited the diversity of Queens in reiterating Uttley's argument.
"The ethnic and racial diversity of these Queens neighborhoods, coupled with the need for comprehensive reproductive health services, indicates that these community hospitals should be made to broaden rather than restrict vital preventive services," Berger said.
Speaking at a community meeting in Jamaica Friday, David Hoffman, Wyckoff's general counsel, acknowledged that the accord includes a provision to "maintain the Catholic identities" of both St. John's and Mary Immaculate. He said there are people in the community on both sides of the debate and that Wyckoff included the provision in its bid because it "represented the best opportunity to save the two hospitals."
Uttley believes Wyckoff agreed to continue the Catholic restrictions because it made Wyckoff a "more attractive bidder" to Saint Vincent's. But she argued that because Wyckoff was the only bidder, the provision should be scrapped.
Hoffman downplayed this line of reasoning Friday, although he did acknowledge that the Wyckoff proposal was drafted under the assumption that other bids would be submitted for the two Queens facilities.
"We knew we couldn't come in with more money," he said. "We put together the best plan to keep these hospitals alive."
Hoffman said there was something to be gained by maintaining the status quo at Mary Immaculate and St. John's, two facilities which must be nursed back to economic health. This included keeping the Catholic restrictions in place, Hoffman said. Hoffman said Wyckoff will use its experience operating a hospital in Bushwick, Brooklyn, to bring both Queens hospitals back to economic viability.
Wyckoff's bid to purchase the two facilities includes the creation of Caritas Health Care Planning Inc., a new entity that will oversee both Mary Immaculate and St. John's. Hoffman acknowledged that two representatives designated by the Diocese of Brooklyn will sit on Caritas' seven-person board of directors.
©Times Ledger 2006
