Conflict and compromise: Catholic and public hospital partnerships
Wall, B.M.
Nursing History Review Official Journal of the American Association for the History of Nursing 18: 100-117
2010
ISSN/ISBN: 1062-8061 PMID: 20067093 DOI: 10.1891/1062-8061.18.100Document Number: 217059
This article analyzes the tensions and uneasy negotiations, based on a case study, that occurred among Catholic sisters, administrators, bishops, physicians, and the Vatican for more than seven years at a hospital in Austin, Texas. Here, the largest health care system in the city, which was Catholic, joined with the local public, tax-supported hospital that provided the majority of reproductive health care services in the region. A clash resulted over whether the hospital could continue providing sterilization and contraceptive services to its primarily poor patients. This article examines the fierce debates that occurred, especially over emergency contraception and attempts to develop creative solutions after a hierarchical crackdown from the Vatican. The end result was a compromise that included the creation of a "hospital within a hospital."