Several months ago–in a thread I couldn’t locate here–I mentioned the efforts of the Catholic Church to take over hospitals, in Southern California at least, and close them. So far they have, in southern Los Angeles County (the most populous county in the country) closed South Bay Hospital in Redondo Beach and Bay Harbor Hospital in Harbor City (near the harbor); and just this last week they closed an important emergency hospital in Long Beach. Meanwhile, Little Company of Mary Hospital in central Torrance has, for the last few years, been undergoing an extensive renovation; and an auxiliary building of LCMH has gone up at Sepulveda and Crenshaw boulevards, a few miles away. Most of the people who used the other hospitals can’t get to central Torrance. And, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times a few days ago, the California Attorney General is finally investigating this.
Dopers, please comment!
Man, I really don’t understand why some churches decide to get into something they are not affiliated with. Personally, I believe a church’s only purpose should be a place of refuge when you need help, and a place where you can go to to have fellowship with other Christians. Why they would decide to start doing that is outrageous.
Chalk another on up for things that give Christianity a bad name.
“Hey, sick people don’t need hospitals! They need the church!” Bah… what a bunch of jerks.
I don’t get it. Why would an organization take over an enterprise with the intent of shutting it down? Presumably there is some cost involved to the Catholic Church in taking over these premises.
but the question is: Why would the catholic church want to take them over in the first place? what are the benefits?
perhaps they plan to open up religious hospitals in place of the closed ones? IIRC, religious hospitals don’t have to perform procedures or prescribe drugs they deem ethically questionable (i.e. abortion, morning after pill, mifeprex)
Don’t make the mistake of assuming the faceless “Catholic Church” is behind this. Could just be a Archbishop with delusions of grandeur, wanting to corner the market on health services.
Odd. Good idea though (about the religious hospitals). But would they actually have to close them down? Couldn’t you just “convert” them? harharhar
One think that I’ll bet most of you don’t understand is that hospitals must turn a profit like any other business. These days, with people being much more mobile than they used to be, there are far more hospitals than necessary. Some have to be shut down. Why so many hospitals are affiliated with the Catholic Church is simple: The Church is a good source of volunteer labor. And no, Church-affiliated hospitals cannot perform abortions.
excellent point. You are now in the lead. =)
It is part of the tenets of the Church to offer aid to the sick and suffering. There have been orders of nuns nursing and teaching forever. Note Mother Teresa. Most hospitals are owned by religious houses, or orders. However, it is also true that they are business, although not-for-profit. The money the make is channeled back into the hospitals, and to buy more. There is no question of trying to convert someone while they’re in a Catholic hospital, although the rooms generally have a crucifix in them. Although the Church is in the business of saving souls as well, this is considered a separate ministry.
Yes, I’m Catholic. Oh - and the local Catholic hospital here had to shut down their maternity department because they refused to perform abortions. They were going to be refused funding from the government because of it.
StG
Don’t forget the ever popular and money-to-be-made scheme of Infertility Treatments. A friend of mine lived right across the street from a Catholic Hospital that her OB worked out of, but because of whatever problem she had physically getting pregnant, could not go through this doctor’s hospital because it was a no-no.
She was complaining to me, " But I’m not even a catholic"
Me, the fallen catholic, " Ahh, but your vagina and apparently are."
In the newspaper recently is an item that the Church has sold the property occupied by Bay Harbor Hospital, which the Church bought and closed, and a developer has bought it with the intention of razing the structure and building “townhomes.” :mad: Wouldn’t it be better for the Church to relent and build a hospital where people need it (instead of forcing patients to go to Little Company of Mary in west central Torrance, miles from Harbor City)? Or does that make too much sense?
Sorry, but outrageous practices like closing Bay Harbor Hospital make my blood boil…That they sold the hospital property to a developer suggests their god is Mammon…:mad:
They weren’t funded because of their beliefs??? How ignorant is that!!
I’m not sure if this thread is a debate or a rant against the RCC…either way I’m not sure if MPSIMS is the best forum for it.
Anywho…
to answer the question about why the RCC is in the healthcare provider sector, I refer you to the web site of Catholic Healthcare West…the largest Catholic health care provider in that area.
I’d rather not register for the LA Times, so I can’t get to the articles referenced in the OP.
I did find this report from the California Attorney General about hospital closings in general over the past 5 years (actually 1995-2000).
Um, no. They weren’t going to be funded because they refused to provide procedures that the funding was tagged for.
The Catholic church has been doing hospitals since the crusades.
Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem aka Hospitallers
And consolodation of small hospitals is the trend now. They just can’t make it alone, so they buy them up, transfer the patients to the big hospital, then close the small one.