Medical Center sued for closing on Jewish Sabbath

Great Debates
1

From this article, this one and this one.

The essence of the story is that the local NAACP chapter of Spring Valley, NY has sued (or filed a complaint) against the Ben Gilman Medical and Dental Clinic, alleging “unlawful discriminatory practice.”

Among the complaints is that the clinic, owned and operated by Orthodox Jews, is closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays. “The willful closing of the clinic on Saturdays serves no other business purpose than to impose the extremity of [the owner’s] religious beliefs in Hasidic Judaism on the community it serves which consists of predominantly African Americans and Hispanics,” the complaint states.

The complaint alleges that since the clinic receives government funds (it accepts Medicare and Medicaid), the facility should stay open during hours that do not discriminate against members of any religous group.

Said Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a YU lecutrer and expert on Jewish medical ethics:

“The complaint has nothing to do with ethics or with medical responsibility. You have a family physician — does he take off one day a week?” asked Rabbi Tendler. Halacha, he said, does not require a Sabbath-observant physician — or in this case, a clinic – to work every day as long as “he has somebody covering for him” to handle emergency cases on Shabbat. “You’re not endangering anyone’s life.

“There’s an emergency room that’s open” at hospitals in the area, said the rabbi, who lives in Monsey.
And now for my opinion:

Of course, one could also argue that the “The complaint has nothing to do with ethics or with medical responsibility,” said Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a Talmud lecturer at Yeshiva University and an authority on Jewish medical ethics.

“You have a family physician — does he take off one day a week?” asked Rabbi Tendler. Halacha, he said, does not require a Sabbath-observant physician — or in this case, a clinic – to work every day as long as “he has somebody covering for him” to handle emergency cases on Shabbat. “You’re not endangering anyone’s life.

“There’s an emergency room that’s open” at hospitals in the area, said the rabbi, who lives in Monsey.

Thus ends the story. Now for my opinion:

The complaint is bogus. You can’t require a private business to remain open against the owner’s religious beliefs simply because it receives government funding for services provided. That’s like telling a hardware store owner that he has to remain open because the government buys hammers and nails from him.

Of course, one can also ask why government buildings (which, obviously, receive government funding) can remain closed on Sunday.

I highly doubt that this clinic is the only clinic in town. I also find it hard to believe that if the clinic were closed on Sunday instead of Saturday that the NAACP would be bringing this complaint.

(Note: The complaint also makes other allegations regarding diversity training and what-not. Since I know nothing of conditions of the staff, etc. in the clinic, I cannot comment on those portions of the complaint.)

Zev Steinhardt

2

I can make no pronouncement on whether they *can *be sued, or legally *can *chose when to close, but I can freely agree that they should be able to close on the day that works well for them, for whatever reason - for my doctor, that’s Wednesdays. Why Wednesdays? I have no idea. I suspect it’s not relgious in nature, but the day when she can most afford to not see clients (who always want weekend and evening appointments.)

If this is “discriminatory”, then so is a federally funded office closing on Sundays. Clearly, that’s just stupid. I don’t see how this forces non-Jews to not be patients there (they have 6 days a week to schedule an appointment, just like at most doctors’ offices), or provides preferential treatment to Jews or any other twisting of the word “discrimination” here. Are they trying to say that anyone taking Medicare must stay open 7 days a week? That seems bizarre, as well as unworkable.

Once again, I’m reminded that in the US, you can sue anyone you want for anything you like, but there’s no reason you should always win. I hope this is tossed out like the trash it is - assuming the laws are reasonable and agree with my “shoulds”. If they don’t, they should be changed.

3

Good day to golf.

4

So I’m confused, did the NAACP sue the clinic, or file a complaint with a gov’t human rights agency, or both? The headline of the first article says the former, but the text then makes no mention of a lawsuit and just talks about a complaint that was filed.

The gov’t can make medicaid/medicare payments contingent on staying open at certain times. And for a clinic in a poor area, not being able to get paid for seeing medicaid/medicare patients means not staying in business. And indeed, I’m sure I’m not saying the gov’t should use this threat in this case, just that they could.

5

However, I find it hard to believe that if the clinic were closed on Sunday (instead of Saturday) that the NAACP would be bringing the suit (or filing the complaint). Just as the NAACP can claim that people need the clinic open on Saturday because people may get sick, they can also get sick on Sunday.

I’m not certain why this clinic, taking government money for offering services, is any different than a hardware store or a contractor that works for the government and wants to close one day a week.

Zev Steinhardt

6

The articles aren’t terribly clear, but I think its closed all weekend:

Honestly all three articles set off my “not getting the full story” alarm. I’m suspicious that the actual complaint isn’t as unreasonable as we’re thinking, but that the media cited has fixated on the “NAACP trys to get jews to work on Saturday” angle.

Well, the gov’t could threaten to withdraw their business from a hardware store as well, if thier needs weren’t being met. The difference is that its difficult to imagine the gov’t giving a damn whether they buy thier hammers on a Saturday or a Sunday, while the NAACP seems to be claiming that not being able to get medical services on a Saturday is a serious problem for the people they represent. And of course, health services are usually more critical and time-dependent then hardware needs.

After all, why should the gov’t have to pay medicaid/medicare payments to a clinic that wasn’t meeting thier needs.

7

As a black man, I feel both safe and justified in saying that this particular branch of the NAACP is staffed by assholes. What they are really attempting to do is to impose their own religious beliefs on the Jews who run that clinic. I’m sure they think that’s okay, since Jesus was black :rolleyes: and the Jews just need to convert anywhistle.

8

Cool. Because the university receives government funds, and they discriminate against me by closing the library at night. Like many eggheads, I have no social life to speak of, so I prefer to do research in the middle of the night, especially on weekends. Oh, they’ll tell you that I can access library resources via the web 24 hours a day, but that’s really only reference materials. What if I want to read old copies of the New York Post on microfiche at 2:00 AM? Also, I want to play squash after I do my research. Again, squash courts closed at night. Clearly a pattern of discrimination against noxifilics is emerging.

9

I do not think the lawsuit has merit. As a private business, they should be able to set their own hours.

I do find a couple of points curious and I am wondering how much of the story we are not getting.

The clinic has only been open for two years, so it is not as though a Jewish group took over another business and reduced the number of hours of service.
The NAACP has made several complaints, earlier, regarding the treatment of customers by staff, particularly alleging rudeness and worse directed to people based on their appearance and accents. I suspect that the hostility that arose there (whatever its source) has now spilled over into this larger issue.
I was a bit surprised that the clinic was told by its rabbinic authority that it could not stay open with non-Jewish staff. I am not challenging that ruling, per se, but I note that I know several Jewish owned businesses that do a good business on Saturday using only Gentile help, so I am curious as to the reasoning. (I am pretty sure that none of the businesses I know are owned by Chasidic groups, although at least one owner is Orthodox.)

10

A buisness owned by Jews cannot remain open on Shabbos. I do know of an private ambulance service here in Brooklyn that runs on Shabbos. I am not certain what arrangements he made to make that halachicly legal.

A buisness owned in partnership with a non-Jew may remain open on Shabbos, provided that the profits generated on Shabbos are the property of the non-Jew. Perhaps the owner of the buisness you know of has a non-Jewish parter (or partners)?

Of course, the halacha is a lot more complex than that, but that’s the quick version.

Zev Steinhardt

11

On a weekday, I once stopped by a Catholic Church I never before before knew of, much less visited, in a town many miles away. I wanted to speak to the pastor about someone in his parish who’d died. But it was his day off.

The person I was with was outraged. “Day OFF?!!! A priest?”

Yeah, day off.

Everyone needs one, and I’m glad they take it. Priests, doctors, all of them.

12

One issue might be the amount of service being offered. Assuming they are closing Saturdays instead of Sundays (or Wednesdays instead of a day on the weekend) than they are still offering the same six days a week of service that other medical centers are offering. The same principle applies to holiday closings.

13

As always. :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks for the info. There easily could have been a partnership involved in the one Orthodox owned business I knew.

14

If this is a private business, then it is certainly not the government’s job to tell them how to run it, it’s as simple as that, IMO.

15

Ah, but in the opinion of some persons in the NAACP, everything is the government’s purview.

16

Right. Well, don’t get me started on that.

17

:::throwing down gauntlet::

In the eyes of some in the NAACP, everything is the government’s business.

We black libertarians refer to the holders of such opinions as morons.

18

Here’s the thing, Skald…you are probably right about some folks in the NAACP. I find that there are many people in a lot of places who think that everything is the government’s business.

We white libertarians refer to the holders of such opinions as morons, as well. :slight_smile:

19

To repeat myself, the clinic probably relies on gov’t insurances for the majority of its business. So it is the gov’ts business who they give money to, and if the way the clinic is being run is determental to the medicare/medicaid holders, the gov’t can and should play hardball to get the best service for thier “customers”. And of course health related businesses are (and should be) regulated to a certain extent by the gov’t regardless of if they get state money simply because one of the functions of gov’t is to manage public health.

That’s the general case anyways. Again in this particular case I don’t think we have enough information to tell exactly what the NAACP is doing.

20

You didn’t need to repeat yourself…I read your posts. I just don’t think it makes any difference to what I said. First of all, the government is not supporting the business with Medicaid & Medicare, they are supporting the patients. However the patients pay their bills is kind of beside the point…if I am a doctor who accepts Blue Cross, does that mean that Blue Cross can dictate what hours I should be open? Or should I, as the insurance provider, try to make sure that as many doctors, hospitals, and clinics as possible accept my insurance, so that my customers have options?

Secondly, the government has no right to discriminate against business owners or anyone else based on religion.

Thirdly, if this clinic is forced to be open on Saturdays, they will have to close down or move somewhere where the NAACP will leave them alone. How will this help the neighborhood, exactly?