Survey - Share Your Story: Health Care Providers-Pregnancy Complications

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.

If you have never worked in a Catholic hospital, but have only received for treatment a patient who was denied care elsewhere, please skip directly to question [7].

Question - Not Required - 1. Describe how you became aware that there was some restraint on your ability to treat patients according to your medical training. (For example: I was aware of my hospital's written policy, there is an unwritten policy, I or another member of the medical team took the case to the ethics committee, I was aware of another doctor who was reprimanded for treating a patient in a similar circumstance, etc.)

Question - Not Required - 2. Think of a specific case when you felt a certain treatment would be best for your patient but the hospital would not allow it. Describe the patient's condition, including the gestational age of the pregnancy and your diagnosis. What was the course of treatment you provided, and how did it differ from your preferred treatment? If there is more than one case, please list relevant details for each.

Question - Not Required - 3. Did you perform any medical tests specifically to comply with your hospital's formal or informal policies on the treatment of pregnancy complications? Were these tests that you found medically unnecessary?

Question - Not Required - 4. If treatment was delayed until there were no longer detectable heart tones or signs of embryonic development, indicate the length of delay and any medical care that was provided during the delay.

Question - Not Required - 5. Was the patient transferred to another hospital so she could more promptly receive treatment, or chose from treatment options that were unavailable at your hospital due to religious restrictions? (For example, the patient was transferred so she could get methotrexate for an ectopic pregnancy.) How was the transfer made? (For example, she was sent by ambulance, she was discharged and then went to the other hospital on her own.) Was the patient stable when she was transferred?

Question - Not Required - 6. What was communicated to the patient or her representative about the reason for the delayed treatment or the need for her to be transferred to another hospital? Have you been pressured to withhold information about treatment options that were not available at the hospital, even if they were available elsewhere?

If, in addition to working at a Catholic hospital, you’ve also worked at a non-Catholic hospital and received a patient who had been denied treatment elsewhere, answer questions 7-9. Otherwise, skip to question 10.

Question - Not Required - 7. If you treated a patient who first sought care for a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy at a Catholic hospital, describe the circumstances under which the patient arrived at your hospital. (For example, the Catholic hospital directed her to our hospital; she came in by ambulance after being transferred, etc.)

Question - Not Required - 8. Describe the transferred patient's condition, including whether she was stable or unstable, as well as the gestational age of the pregnancy, your diagnosis, and the course of treatment you provided.

Question - Not Required - 9. Based on your medical training and experience, was the final outcome of the patient's condition compromised or did the patient endure any additional complications because of the treatment delay? If so, how?

Question - Not Required - 10. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the case(s) you've described or about your experience that is relevant to the issues covered in this survey?

The following is optional and will be kept confidential.

Question - Not Required - Name of hospital:

(Maximum response 255 chars, approx. 5 rows of text)

Question - Not Required - City and State:

(Maximum response 255 chars, approx. 5 rows of text)

Question - Not Required - Approximate date of incident(s) described:

(Maximum response 255 chars, approx. 5 rows of text)

If we may contact you with follow-up questions, please provide:


	First Name:
	Last Name:
	Email:
	Phone Number:
	Please send me e-mail updates from the National Women's Law Center

Question - Not Required - What is the best time to contact you?

(Maximum response 255 chars, approx. 5 rows of text)

If you have any questions, please contact Jill Morrison at 202-588-7616, or jmorrison@nwlc.org. If you wish to sign up for the NWLC list and keep up to date on our work in this area, please visit www. nwlc.org.