The teaching of the Catholic faith supersedes all other rights, including patient rights of self-determination, informed consent, and the clinical judgement of providers
The US Conference Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has mandated facilities that work within their network abide by the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) since the 1940’s. The document now consists of 77 directives and most recently updated in 2016 to tighten control on their application to all affiliated heath care delivery systems. Local bishops are given the absolute authority to determine care. These decisions are made without medical advice or consideration of patient rights.
The basic tenets of Catholic teaching include: life begins at conception and ends with a natural death; sex is assigned at birth from God; sex reassignment surgery is considered “body mutilation;” marriage is between one man and one woman, and the sole purpose of sexual intercourse is procreation; end of life suffering is considered “redemptive suffering” and cannot be ended by choice.The fundamental principles of Catholic doctrine include: life begins at conception and concludes with natural death; gender is divinely assigned at birth; sex reassignment surgery is viewed as “body mutilation”; marriage is defined as a union between one man and one woman, with the primary purpose of sexual intercourse being procreation; suffering at the end of life is regarded as “redemptive suffering” and cannot be deliberately terminated.
The Directives also dictate that same sex couple marriages are immoral, no contraception is allowed except for the Catholic family planning method (observation of the menstrual cycle), no transformational gender affirming care is allowed, and treatment of miscarriages is not allowed if a fetal heart tone is detected.
The teaching of the Catholic faith supersedes all other rights, including patient rights of self-determination, informed consent, and the clinical judgement of providers. Health care providers’ beliefs and their duty to “do no harm” are often in direct conflict of these directives.