Feeding tube restored to immigrant woman unable to pay Jesuit hospital

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Feeding tube restored to immigrant woman unable to pay Jesuit hospital
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 11, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Rwandan immigrant woman and survivor of the horrors of the 1994 genocide who had her feeding tube removed because a U.S. Catholic-affiliated hospital deemed her care too expensive, apparently will not die of starvation and dehydration thanks to a court order and the efforts of her children.

Rachel Nyirahabiyambere, a 58-year-old grandmother and refugee from war-torn Rwanda, had been denied food and water since Feb. 19 after her feeding tube was removed by order of her court-appointed guardian. But 21 days later, Rachel is still alive, and now Judge Nolan Dawkins has ordered Rachel’s feeding tube reinserted at the request of her family’s new legal counsel.
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I thought feeding tubes were considered ordinary care and could not be removed by Catholics?
 
I imagine the Bishop of that diocese needs to check into this… I can’t believe that it would even have been an issue in a Catholic hospital.
 
Loboto-Me said:
I imagine the Bishop of that diocese needs to check into this… I can’t believe that it would even have been an issue in a Catholic hospital.
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I’m not sure that Georgetown University Hospital identifies as a Catholic hospital. Their website makes no mention of that identity, other than a one sentence mission statement which says:
“To provide physical and spiritual comfort to our patients and families in the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis, caring for the whole person.”

If you consider the entire Mission, Vision & Values statement, it is almost identical to that of the non-Catholic hospital chain to which GUH belongs, Medstar Health. And, the Executive Staff of GUH seems to have no Jesuit (or other religious order) representation.

I dunno… I think the bad publicity will be enough to make the hospital back down, at least in this case. However, should Archbishop Wuerl decide to apply some gentle pressure, it might be helpful for the future. Even though Georgetown University does not seem to be a Jesuit facility (despite the title of this thread) it does have indirect Catholic connections. And the “death panel” decision to pull the plug on this woman’s life support for financial reasons can not be allowed to pass unchallenged or uncorrected.
 
Now the $64,000 question: Why is her life less important than “Baby Joseph”? Why wasn’t Fr. Frank on the horn to go rescue her and make a stink about the American insurance company “death panels” that currently exist?

Oh wait, his group is a thinly veiled PAC for the Republican Party.
 
Wow. I am shocked that a hospital that calls itself Catholic could even think of doing such a thing.
 
ChemicalBean said:
Now the $64,000 question: Why is her life less important than “Baby Joseph”?
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Who said it is?
ChemicalBean said:
Why wasn’t Fr. Frank on the horn to go rescue her and make a stink about the American insurance company “death panels” that currently exist?
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She’s already in a putatively Catholic hospital. The ADF is giving her legal assistance. She does not have insurance.
ChemicalBean said:
Oh wait, his group is a thinly veiled PAC for the Republican Party.
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What group?
 
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