All I was trying to say is that this case is not necessarily indicative of any, new disturbing trend - such dilemmas and even more difficult ones - have always dogged the care of pregnancy and delivery. So to extrapolate from this incident and grow fearful for one’s life specifically because of it, is unwarranted I believe.
In the case of this particular hospital I think that we’ve all agreed that the ground work was laid before this. And I didn’t mean by my previous post to Little Soldier that she should have to be scared. But it is indicative of a culture of death in that this is most likely not an isolated case, not just this one abortion but Catholic hospitals subtley going against Catholic teaching until they’re “found out”. Catholic hospitals are kind of the last “hold out” of institutions that will, without question, respect life. It is scary when you see it becoming “okay”, when you see the hospital being portrayed as the victim and Bishop as the bad guy in the news. To those who aren’t knowledgeable in their faith, to those who are unfamiliar with Catholicism althogether, and to those who are already anti-Catholic, the actions of the hospital are dangerous to individual’s eternal lives.
I have more than once affirmed (here or on other threads) that the Bishop had both the authority and the duty to rule on morality of treatments for disease affecting pregnancy and that he also has the responsibility to understand the disease process for which he is declaring treatment moral or immoral.
But you seem to be questioning his ability, or willingness, to understand. Or saying that there is no way a Bishop can fully understand, which would then translate to saying that he could not make the decision. That’s what I’m not getting from you. Although I get it more in this post. See below.
It’s not a question of believing the Bishop if I believe the Church. I have read the USCCB document and even it stops short of directly affirming the Bishop’s declaration. Why?
Because in the hierarchy of the Church and the confines of Canon Law, they simply don’t need to. His word is taken as the final word according to Church teaching and it speaks for itself, it doesn’t need to be “authorized” by anyone else. The “authorization” came with his appointment of bishop. The USCCB is not his “superior”. He doesn’t report to them, and they don’t control his actions. They could have said absolutely nothing, and it means nothing. Just as when Pope Benedict didn’t swoop down and condemn Notre Dame for inviting Obama to speak, like many people called for, that’s not how it works. The Bishop there was the voice of the Pope, the voice of the Magisterium.
Wouldn’t that clarify everything for everybody regarding this specific case?
No, not at all. Since in this case it is the Bishop who holds the apostolic authority in that diocese and the USCCB understands that. It is our exposure to our media saturated culture and government here in the US that expects something from anyone all the way up to the Pope to verify the Bishop. But the reality is that the “Pope” has already spoken.
Were the Bishops of days gone by who declared ectopic treatment illicit before rupture somehow symptomatic of error in the Church? I don’t believe so - they made judgments based on what was understood of disease process at the time. The knowledge of the disease process changed, the moral declarations on whether and when treatment is allowed also changed. That is a historical fact.
This is where I totally agree with you and I think is the best description of what you’ve been trying to say all along. But the problem is that it is medical science that is subject to Catholic teaching all along. As technology advances and more knowledge and procedures come about that are able to treat pathologies while guaranteeing, without a doubt in Church teaching, that the mother and child will both be equally respected, of course things would change. But sometimes you’re making it sound like the more “advanced” science is coming around and “proving them wrong”.
I would bet that many doctors find Catholic ethics just as confusing, if not moreso, than any medical knowledge and if they understood it better, might make different decisions as well. The problem in these cases with the hospitals is that many many times they’re not even trying and considering their medical knowledge to make them more authoritative than revealed truth as revealed through the Church.
The study of placental pathology probably did not even exist at the time some of these theological principles were being developed. Can we now ignore that knowledge because it doesn’t fit our principles?
The Church’s “principles” do not, and never, change. That understanding develops is evident, and good. Nothing is ignored, but if you understand something thoroughly through a medical standpoint that doesn’t mean you are necessarily qualified to make a moral decision in a morally confusing case.
If God in His mercy and concern for all life, were to provide us progressively more knowledge on situations that presently confound us, why should we fear or resist that?
We shouldn’t. But why are you assuming (or you seem to be anyway) that that is what happened here?
I don’t even have to fear that the chronic pain I’m in will worsen, as it does sometimes. 
