Catholic Hospital Discovers One Very Specific Situation In Which A Fetus Isn't A Person
Surprise! It is when they are being sued for malpractice.
If there is anything that anti-abortion rights activists believe, it is that a fetus, from the moment of conception — or even from the moment of fertilization — is a full-on human being. They’ve passed multiple laws based on this belief, which they call “personhood.”
And yet, like so many other things, it turns out there is a juuuuuuust little bit of a loophole. At least when it is convenient for them.
Catholic Health Initiatives-Iowa (CHI) has, in fact discovered the one instance in which a fetus is not a person — and, incredibly, it is when they, personally, are being sued for malpractice.
In Iowa, there is a cap on non-economic damages in malpractice suits, barring people from suing for more than $250,000 unless there is “loss or impairment of mind or body.” So, in the interest of not paying a woman who is suing them for actions she believes led to the death of her unborn child any more money than that, attorneys representing CHI and MercyOne Hospital are arguing that the unborn child was not a person.
In April of 2021, Miranda Anderson of Poweshiek County was 34 weeks pregnant and experiencing signs of preeclampsia when she ended up in MercyOne’s Obstetrics Emergency Unit. Anderson was monitored at the hospital for two days before being sent home. A week later, she went to go see her doctor for an evaluation, and the doctor determined that there was no fetal heartbeat — requiring her to undergo an emergency c-section to remove the dead fetus.
Anderson, her husband, and their attorneys argue that MercyOne should have performed an emergency c-section while she was in their care, while the fetus still had a chance to survive.
“[F]inding an unborn child to be a ‘person’ would lead to serious implications in other areas of the law,” attorneys representing the hospital argued in recent court filings, saying that the fetus would not have been considered a patient for the purposes of the malpractice law in 2021 — citing the fact that “loss of pregnancy” was added to the statute by lawmakers in 2023.
“There is no statute or binding case law finding an unborn child to be a ‘patient’ under the law,” they argued, noting that the Iowa Supreme Court held in a 1971 case that “there can be no recovery (of damages) on behalf of, or for, a nonexistent person.”
The attorneys are asking the court to limit the amount the Andersons can sue the hospital for to $250,000, which would certainly save them a whole lot of money.
As a Catholic hospital, CHI and MercyOne are obligated to follow the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services — which means they cannot offer contraception, sterilization, or, of course, abortion. The hospital actually got in trouble with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which established said directives, back in 2019 for offering “creative ways” to provide patients with contraception, tubal ligation and other “immoral procedures.” So, to be fair to the health care providers and administrators, it’s likely that they don’t share the beliefs of their employer with regard to fetal personhood.
That being said, it’s the hospital itself that is being sued here, and if they’re going to deny people medical interventions on the grounds that a fetus is a person, it only seems fair that they should be more than happy to pay up when their actions lead to the death of one.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
Every sperm is sacred, until it affects our bottom line
The Catholic Church? Full of self-interested hypocrites? Knock me over with a feather!