Obama, FOCA, Catholic hospitals and abortion

It has been my experience with my local “Catholic hospital” that the hospital is not owned by the Catholic church just its by-law writers, founder(s), board of directors, etc. may all be Catholic, but the hospital itself does not have an endorsement.

It’s no different then if you and started a construction company and called it “Christian Brothers Construction.” We may both be Christian but our company in not necessarily endorsed by a religious sect.

However, this isn’t always the case there are several Catholic owned hospitals in the US.  They function very similar to some Catholic schools.  They still have a board of directors who appoints a CEO and other positions as outlined in there by-laws.

With the way tax laws are in the US being owned and supported by a religious sect they may now receive governmental funding (not that others can’t they just have a lot less hoops to jump through).

The local governments would rather not have to support their own hospital so it’s easier to make a deal with a local group to shoulder the responsibility of day-to-day functions in exchange for so many dollars per year.

I’m sure others may disagree this is just my very limited observations as an emergency responder.

If the hospital is owned by a Catholic (or Lutheran, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, whatever) church, then it is government exempt and can pretty much chose to do anything it wants until such time as a national health care policy is created and all ownership of hospitals is ceased as assets are seized by the government.