Share Your Story - Health Care Providers & Pregnancy Complications

Attention Health Care Providers and Medical Students!

Has your Catholic hospital interfered with your ability to treat a patient's pregnancy complications?

Has your non-Catholic hospital or private office received patients whose pregnancy complications were not treated at a Catholic hospital?

A growing body of evidence shows that some Catholic hospitals are interfering with providers' ability to give prompt treatment to women with miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies according to the medical standard of care. Some hospitals interpret the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Services to prohibit any treatment that would terminate a pregnancy if there are still detectable fetal heart tones or if the embryo is still growing — even in cases where there is no medical treatment that would allow the pregnancy to continue.

The purpose of the National Women’s Law Center's survey is to identify medical providers who have been required to alter their preferred course of treatment because of their hospital's policies or practices. We are also interested in identifying providers who may have treated patients who had been denied treatment at another hospital.

We understand that this survey touches on the sensitive matter of patient care. While we are seeking administrative remedies with CMS to address this problem, we are not seeking this information in order to bring complaints against specific hospitals. We ask for particular information, but please provide only as much information as you are comfortable with. All responses will be kept strictly confidential. Your responses are important to our effort to improve the treatment of pregnancy complications.