Farr Curlin, MD
The 8th Annual Contemporary Catholic Healthcare Ethics Conference
9 October 9, 2009
ADF rebuts NY hospital’s claim that pro-life nurse can’t sue
ADF attorneys respond to claims of Mount Sinai Hospital
NEWS RELEASE
19 August, 2009
NEW YORK — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys submitted a brief in federal court Monday in response to the claim of New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital that a pro-life nurse who sued the hospital has no right to defend herself in court. ADF filed suit after the hospital forced senior nurse Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo to participate in a late-term abortion procedure.
“Pro-life nurses shouldn’t be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs. Nonetheless, Mount Sinai Hospital is multiplying its injustices against nurse Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “First it disregarded Cathy’s conscience; now it argues she can’t go to court to defend her rights. Mount Sinai Hospital does not have the right to disregard federal law and then refuse to face the consequences of its actions.”
Administrators at Mount Sinai Hospital threatened Cenzon-DeCarlo with disciplinary measures if she did not honor a last-minute summons to assist in a scheduled late-term abortion. Despite the fact that the patient was apparently not in crisis at the time of the surgery, the hospital insisted on her participation in the procedure on the grounds that it was an “emergency,” even though the procedure was not classified by the hospital as such. ADF attorneys filed suit on behalf of Cenzon-DeCarlo in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on July 21.
Attorneys for the hospital submitted a brief to the court Aug. 10 arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the federal law at issue “does not grant individual litigants a private right of action.”
ADF attorneys responded to the brief Monday, noting, “Mount Sinai’s compulsion violates 42 U.S.C. § 300a-7(c), ‘the Church Amendment’ (named after Senator Frank Church). This law provides that no recipient of federal health funds may discriminate in the employment or privileges of its health care personnel because of their religious objection to abortion. The law contains no exception letting Mount Sinai compel assistance based on their unbridled judgment that abortion is an ‘emergency.’ Mount Sinai’s actions are a quintessential example of discriminating in employment and privileges on condition that Mrs. DeCarlo violate her objection to abortion.”
The ADF brief goes on to explain that “Mount Sinai compounds its contempt of the law” by denying that the law allows Cenzon-DeCarlo to defend her conscience rights. The brief points out that a federal court just this year “not only recognized an individual right, but allowed the plaintiff (in that case an abortion supporter) to seek punitive damages.” It also points out that the federal law involves all of the factors that the U.S. Supreme Court has used to recognize such rights and that Congress obviously intended to protect individuals from discrimination under the law it created.
New York ADF-allied attorneys Joseph Ruta and Piero Tozzi are serving as local counsel in the case, Cenzon-DeCarlo v. The Mount Sinai Hospital. The court will hold a pre-trial conference on Sept. 10.
Contact: ADF MEDIA RELATIONS (480) 444-0020
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
A NY Nurse Forced to do the Unthinkable
Inside the Issues with Alan Sears
August 18, 2009
Reproduced with permission
The administrators at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital knew at least three things, that Sunday morning, when they ordered senior nurse Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo, at the last minute, to assist in a late-term abortion:
- They knew that Cathy, who is a devoted follower of Christ and a Catholic, was on long-term record with the hospital as opposing abortion for religious reasons.
- They knew that, despite what some of them were telling Cathy, the medical situation was not a true emergency, and the mother’s life was not at stake.
- They knew that, under federal law, any hospital receiving federal health funds – as Mount Sinai does – cannot force its employees to assist in abortion procedures under any circumstances.
Despite all that, the administrators told Cathy that if she didn’t assist in the procedure, she would face disciplinary action – likely including termination and loss of her professional license.
“Pro-life nurses shouldn’t be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman, who is representing Cathy in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “Requiring a devout, Catholic nurse to participate in a late-term abortion in order to remain employed is illegal, unethical, and violates her rights of conscience. Federal law requires that employers who receive funding from tax dollars must not compel employees to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs, but this nurse’s objections fell on deaf ears.”
ADF attorneys are also requesting a preliminary injunction that would order the hospital to honor Cenzon-DeCarlo’s religious objection against assisting in abortion and refrain from retaliation against her while the case moves forward. New York ADF-allied attorneys Joseph Ruta and Piero Tozzi are serving as local counsel in the case.
“Chasing away workers from the health care field is disastrous health care policy,” said Bowman. “An individual’s conscience is likely what brought them to the health care field. Denying or coercing their conscience will likely drive them right out.”
Cathy’s case is a clear example of an employer violating an employee’s right of conscience – and violations like this are happening all over the country everyday to people of sincere religious faith who work in the medical profession: not only nurses, but doctors and pharmacists as well. Please be in prayer for those who are trying to blend their medical skills with a Christ-like compassion and godly reverence for human life – and in particular prayer for our attorneys as they represent Cathy in this high profile and potentially nation-shaping case.
Contact: ADF MEDIA RELATIONS (480) 444-0020
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
The Role of Conscience in Medical Decisions
Daniel P. Sulmasy, M.D.
Center for Practical Bioethics
6 August, 2009.
Does conscience ever clash with professional duties? What do we mean by terms such as ‘conscience’ and ‘conscientious objection’? How should one approach a request from a patient that conflicts with one’s individual conscience?
Conscience and Clinical Care: The Role of Conscience in Medical Decisions
Daniel P. Sulmasy, M.D.
Center for Practical Bioethics
6 August, 2009.
Does conscience ever clash with professional duties? What do we mean by terms such as ‘conscience’ and ‘conscientious objection’? How should one approach a request from a patient that conflicts with one’s individual conscience?
Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and a host of other health care professionals face this dilemma all across America. While recently there has been great interest in conflicts of conscience based upon religious beliefs, conscience is a universal phenomenon, conflicts are ubiquitous, and, fortunately, generally resolvable.
In this lecture, Dr. Daniel Sulmasy will discuss how medical professionals can strive to preserve their moral integrity while also respecting and serving patients with whom they might have deep moral disagreements.
Trailer. For the full lecture, visit the Center for Practical Bioethics