So called "Dignity" health makes the LA Times... (tubal ligation story)

[Ernesto]

"Chamorro's physician, Samuel Van Kirk, asked for authorization from her hospital, Mercy Medical Center in Redding.
The hospital turned him down. Not because its administrators thought the procedure was medically unwise, dangerous, or illegal, but because it violates the Catholic religious principles"

Religious institutions that provide services to the general public should not be allowed to discriminate or deny health care!

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-catholic-hospital-interfering-with-medical-care-20160108-column.html

[niyad]

1. this is an important aspect of the catholic hospital system:

. . .

Chamorro's case underscores a developing crisis in American healthcare, which is tied to the evolution of Catholic hospital chains into a major provider of medical services -- and the sole provider of some services in some communities. Although Mercy Medical is one of three hospitals in Redding, it's the only one with a labor and delivery ward. The next closest option is 70 miles away.

The nation's 645 Catholic hospitals are coming to play a huge role in the hospital business, constituting the largest group of nonprofit healthcare providers in the country, according to the Catholic Health Assn. of the United States, caring for one in six patients. Dignity Health describes itself as "the fifth largest health system in the nation and the largest hospital provider in California," with 30 facilities in the state.

. . .