By John Norton

Experiences of sterilizations at Catholic hospitals

After we published our investigative report last week on allegations that some Catholic hospitals had performed sterilizations in contradiction to Church teaching, I received several e-mails from women who related their own experiences in the delivery rooms of Catholic hospitals -- and the sense of betrayal it left them with.

For two of the women, what occurred took place during a Caesarean section.

One said she was delivering twins at a Catholic hospital in Connecticut (which she identified to me) 12 years ago.

"After only having three hours of sleep the night previous to the C-section, and being medicated with a spinal for surgery, I was very sleepy on the operating table," she wrote.

"After the twins were delivered the doctor asked, 'Are we doing a tubal?' I was in shock. To this day, I don't know if she was simply checking with the nurse, or if she directed the question to me. ... 'NO!' I called out from the other side of the screen (I couldn't see what she was doing to me because they screen the surgery). My anxiety level was very high; I was scared she wouldn't hear me and perform the surgery without my consent. 'I do not want a tubal!' I said loudly. 'Do you hear me? NO.'

"'Yes,' the doctor said, 'I hear you.'"

The writer said she never reported the incident, but wishes now that she had.

Another woman reported that she was repeatedly counseled to be sterilized after her fourth baby delivered by Caesarean, about 11 years ago at a Catholic hospital in Missouri (which she named).

"I was told I would 'die' if I became pregnant again," she wrote. "Being a good Catholic I asked them how they could offer a tubal [ligation] since I was aware that artificial contraception and sterilization was morally wrong. My doctors assured me that I was able to be 'approved by the [archdiocesan] ethics board' and this meant that, 'The archbishop oversees these extreme cases. The last one he approved was a Down's patient who was raped and had heart issues that would kill her. Your case is just as serious.' I was warned. I sought the advice of two different priests from different parishes. They told me, 'Well, you should do as the doctors tell you...it sounds like they've got it OK'd with the archbishop.'"

Of course, she found out later that there was no archbishop's approval. And after a year of heavy bleeding, her uterus had to be removed.

These stories are clearly not the norm at Catholic hospitals. And both of these women's experiences are a dozen years old, so it may be that practices have improved in the hospitals they mention.

Do you have a story to tell? Maybe of a heroically ethical doctor? Please let me know.