Delivering at Holy Cross

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would under no circumstances deliver in a Catholic hospital. My living daughter needs her mother more than she needs a sibling (or a misguided effort to save a sibling.)

There is often not even a pretense of saving the fetus. If you are OBVIOUSLY miscarrying and there is no hope at all for the fetus, they won't treat you of there is still a heartbeat, even if you are developing sepsis.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am also on Kaiser and live in Rockville. I plan to deliver at Reston Health Center. The Catholic thing makes me uncomfortable as well and also various ratings were not great.

How does that make you uncomfortable? I had a great birth experience at Holy Cross Germantown.

They refuse to treat a variety of conditions (e.g. ectopic pregnancies) because of their religious objections. That is a situation where the embryo cannot even be saved and can be life threatening to the woman, so it does not inspire confidence that they will do a good job caring for me or my baby.

Also, my family does not meet the Catholic church's rather narrow definition of family (they don't approve of gay people, trans people, conception by IVF, single parenthood unless by adoption, and any number of other family arrangements). I understand this doesn't mean every nurse and doctor will necessarily give me the side eye, but they have a crucifix in every room and frequent Catholic prayers over the loudspeaker. Thus it makes me uncomfortable.

Glad you had a great experience but it's just not for me.

They don't approve of single parenthood by adoption either

The Catholic Church does not prohibit treating ectopic pregnancies. There are several articles out there that say otherwise, but they are incorrect. While there is ethical debate among theologians, there is no restriction in the catholic health care community. It would certainly be helpful though, if the Church would end that theoretical theological debate to align with the actual health care practices.

"Catholic health care guidelines do not debate whether to treat ectopic pregnancies, which are never viable and are always life-threatening to the mother." https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/my-ectopic-pregnancy-i-never-want-go-through-again

https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-care-ethics-usa/article/winter-2011/catholic-hospitals-and-ectopic-pregnancies

Guidance is inconsistent and not transparent. Some hospitals permit the removal of the entire fallopian tube, reasoning that the embryo is then just an unintended casualty. This doesn't kill the woman but also needless hurts future chances at fertility and takes away a perfectly functioning body part for their own moral reasoning. Even then, it is neither consistent nor transparent.

The U.S. the United States, the Ethical and Religious Directives (guidelines that governs health care provision in Catholic medical centers) writes “In case of extrauterine pregnancy, no intervention is morally licit which constitutes a direct abortion."

That leaves some room for interpretation but also strongly implies no treatment allowed. Your mileage may vary according to hospital and theologian.

That will be the very rare hospital. Spreading misinformation as if this particular hospital has such a policiy, or even a lot or most is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Back in 2020, I initially planned to deliver at Holy Cross in Silver spring. However, at one point I was sent there from an appointment due to concern for fetal distress and I found the overall experience rushed and disappointing. I didn't feel like my voice was heard and I felt that the team was pushing for a C-section. Thankfully everything ended up being fine and I was sent home. I later decided to deliver at Washington hospital center and had a really great experience. The facility overall felt a bit outdated but I was very supported by the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

That's how I felt although I did deliver at Georgetown which seems different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am also on Kaiser and live in Rockville. I plan to deliver at Reston Health Center. The Catholic thing makes me uncomfortable as well and also various ratings were not great.

How does that make you uncomfortable? I had a great birth experience at Holy Cross Germantown.

They refuse to treat a variety of conditions (e.g. ectopic pregnancies) because of their religious objections. That is a situation where the embryo cannot even be saved and can be life threatening to the woman, so it does not inspire confidence that they will do a good job caring for me or my baby.

Also, my family does not meet the Catholic church's rather narrow definition of family (they don't approve of gay people, trans people, conception by IVF, single parenthood unless by adoption, and any number of other family arrangements). I understand this doesn't mean every nurse and doctor will necessarily give me the side eye, but they have a crucifix in every room and frequent Catholic prayers over the loudspeaker. Thus it makes me uncomfortable.

Glad you had a great experience but it's just not for me.

They don't approve of single parenthood by adoption either

The Catholic Church does not prohibit treating ectopic pregnancies. There are several articles out there that say otherwise, but they are incorrect. While there is ethical debate among theologians, there is no restriction in the catholic health care community. It would certainly be helpful though, if the Church would end that theoretical theological debate to align with the actual health care practices.

"Catholic health care guidelines do not debate whether to treat ectopic pregnancies, which are never viable and are always life-threatening to the mother." https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/my-ectopic-pregnancy-i-never-want-go-through-again

https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-care-ethics-usa/article/winter-2011/catholic-hospitals-and-ectopic-pregnancies

Guidance is inconsistent and not transparent. Some hospitals permit the removal of the entire fallopian tube, reasoning that the embryo is then just an unintended casualty. This doesn't kill the woman but also needless hurts future chances at fertility and takes away a perfectly functioning body part for their own moral reasoning. Even then, it is neither consistent nor transparent.

The U.S. the United States, the Ethical and Religious Directives (guidelines that governs health care provision in Catholic medical centers) writes “In case of extrauterine pregnancy, no intervention is morally licit which constitutes a direct abortion."

That leaves some room for interpretation but also strongly implies no treatment allowed. Your mileage may vary according to hospital and theologian.

That will be the very rare hospital. Spreading misinformation as if this particular hospital has such a policy, or even a lot or most is wrong.

If this is misinformation (it's not), then it's funny how HC won't give their policy about these things publicly. Call them and ask. You will get nowhere. They could easily just put a policy on their website but they are intentionally being cagey.

I happen to know that HC specifically will not remove an embryo from a fallopian tube to save a mother's life. They might unnecessarily remove the entire fallopian tube, damaging a woman's fertility and robbing her of a needed body part for no good reason. They will also transfer to a less misogynistic and insane facility. But they won't just remove the damn embryo when that is the safest and least harmful option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

That's how I felt although I did deliver at Georgetown which seems different.

?

You realize it felt different simply because you attributed a lot of fear/assumptions to Holy Cross because it’s a catholic hospital yet for whatever reason you didn’t attribute those same fears to Georgetown…a catholic hospital. Weird because they aren’t different based on your metric.

Georgetown is gross imho.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

Well those are her options. You wouldn’t go to Georgetown either? Please tell us why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

+1000000000000000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

Well those are her options. You wouldn’t go to Georgetown either? Please tell us why.

Not PP and absolutely not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In no way would I deliver at a catholic hospital.

Well those are her options. You wouldn’t go to Georgetown either? Please tell us why.

Dp but, uh, read the thread.

And no, there are other options, Kaiser has non Catholic hospitals like rhc.

[Anonymous]

My mom has Kaiser and just spent 4 days in Holy Cross Silver Spring.
Multiple times I had to track down the nurses to make sure she got her medication. There was nothing pleasant or reassuring about the place. I know the maternity ward is probably different from the Kaiser medical floor, but I have stated emphatically that we won't accept a transfer there ever again.

[Anonymous]

Had my first at Holy Cross. It was not great but not sure how much of it was HCs fault. It was during covid and it was super crowded so we had the worst room postpartum and I wasn't thrilled with my failed induction (medically ordered) turned c section. Kinda felt like there was always someone more urgent than me despite me dealing with some special concerns due to being medically high risk. We wasted a lot of time just waiting for folks.

Also, the room was bad because it was leaking and they brought in a tech without letting us know ahead of time, which wasn't awesome as an exhausted first time mom trying to breastfeed. Not a great surprise. The maternity ward pre birth was much nicer but we weren't there long at all!