Catholic Health Care and the Diocesan Bishop

Over the course of the last decade, the provision of health care in the United States has been undergoing a radical transformation. The days when an insurer, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, paid a standard fee to a physician who provided a specified service to an individual patient are passing rapidly. This fee-for-service concept, which characterized American health care from the end of World War II until the 1990s, is being supplanted by a variety of arrangements that fall under the general rubric of managed care. The fundamental approach of managed care is to provide the patient with all necessary medical services at the lowest cost. It should come as no surprise then that the Catholic health care ministry is experiencing the effects of sweeping changes in the ways in which health care is generally provided throughout the United States. These changes, however, may now threaten the very nature and mission of Catholic health care. Consistent with the teaching of Christ, Catholic hospitals have traditionally embraced a mission of providing health care for the society\u27s poor and forgotten. Church leaders now worry that the mission of the Catholic hospitals may be compromised. Not only the availability of health care to the poor, but the quality of health care in general is bound to suffer in a situation in which financial concern trumps the dignity of each individual human being. Fulfilling a related aspect of their traditional mission, Catholic hospitals have also served as a beacon of light to society with regard to profound moral issues. In the face of strong political and financial pressures to jettison moral principles, Catholic hospitals have consistently refused to permit the killing of the unborn as well as physician-assisted suicide of the elderly and terminally ill