{"id":2113,"date":"2013-01-25T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T11:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church\/"},"modified":"2013-01-25T11:03:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T11:03:00","slug":"colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Colo. bishops to review health system’s fidelity to Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2013 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Colorado's three bishops will examine litigation surrounding Catholic Health Initiatives, after its lawyers allegedly argued in a wrongful-death lawsuit that human fetuses are not persons.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe Catholic bishops of Colorado are not able to comment on ongoing legal disputes. However, we will undertake a full review of this litigation, and of the policies and practices of Catholic Health Initiatives to ensure fidelity and faithful witness to the teachings of the Catholic Church,\u201d the bishops said Jan. 24.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cCatholic Health Initiatives has been accused by some of undermining the Catholic position on human life in the course of litigation,\" they added. \"Today, representatives of Catholic Health Initiatives assured us of their intention to observe the moral and ethical obligations of the Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn 2006, Lori Stodghill and her two unborn children died at a hospital operated by Catholic Health Initiatives. Lawyers for the health system argued that Colorado's wrongful death legislation does not apply to fetuses.<\/p>\n

\tAttorney David Woodruff, one of those representing the plaintiff, told CNA Jan. 24 that \u201ca lawyer doesn't typically take a position on behalf of a client without the client approving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI can't really speak for the relationship there, what actually occurred between lawyers and adjusters \u2013 I wasn't there and it would be inappropriate for me to comment \u2013 but we as lawyers aren't supposed to be conveying a message in the world that doesn't directly reflect our client's wishes\u2026that's why it's so surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn their statement Thursday, the Colorado bishops said that from \u201cthe moment of conception, human beings are endowed with dignity and with fundamental rights, the most foundational of which is life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cCatholics and Catholic institutions have the duty to protect and foster human life, and to witness to the dignity of the human person \u2013 particularly to the dignity of the unborn,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cNo Catholic institution may legitimately work to undermine fundamental human dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tOn Jan. 1, 2006, Jeremy Stodghill took his wife Lori, 28 weeks pregnant, to St. Thomas More Hospital's emergency room in Ca\u00f1on City. She was complaining of nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath. There, she suffered a heart attack due to a blood clot which traveled to her lungs.<\/p>\n

\tHer obstetrician, Pelham Staples, was on-call that day, but failed to arrive at the hospital. Both Lori and her unborn sons, Samuel and Zachary, died.<\/p>\n

\tA nurse listened for the boys' heartbeats, and not hearing any, doctors decided against performing an emergency C-section.<\/p>\n

\tStodghill chose to sue the hospital, its owner Catholic Health Initiatives, Staples, and the emergency room doctor for the wrongful death of his family members.<\/p>\n

\tIn defending Catholic Health Initiatives, their lawyers have argued that no act could have saved Lori's life. But they have also argued that the 28-week old fetuses are not human persons.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cCatholic Health argued\u2026that it could not be held liable for the wrongful death of a fetus, because a fetus is not a person until it is born alive,\u201d according to a legal document filed Sept. 27, 2012, by Stodghill's attorneys.<\/p>\n

\tOnly after Catholic Health Initiatives was the first defendant to advance this argument \u2013 that a human fetus is not a person \u2013 did the two physicians raise the same contention, Beth Krulewitch, one of Stodgehill's attorneys, wrote to Colorado's appellate court Aug. 10, 2011.<\/p>\n

\tAccording to the Westword, one of the defendants' lawyers, Jason Langley, argued in a brief that the judges \u201cshould not overturn the long-standing rule in Colorado that the term 'person,' as is used in the Wrongful Death Act, encompasses only individuals born alive\u2026therefore Plaintiffs cannot maintain wrongful death claims based on two unborn fetuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn a Jan. 24 statement, Catholic Health Initiatives stated that, \u201cIn this case, St. Thomas More, Centura Health and Catholic Health Initiatives, as Catholic organizations, are in union with the moral teachings of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tCatholic Health Initiatives did not answer specific questions, though they added that \u201cfirst and foremost, our heartfelt sympathies have always been with the Stodghill family as a result of these tragic circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tStodghill's attorney's have argued that because the fetuses were viable \u2013 which none of the defendants has disputed \u2013 their father should be able to sue for their wrongful death.<\/p>\n

\tCatholic Health Initiatives have won two cases in the saga so far.<\/p>\n

\tOn Dec. 5, 2010, Fremont County District Court judge David Thorson dismissed Stodghill's lawsuit. Thorson said that \u201ca fetus is not a 'person' for purposes of wrongful death liability,\u201d according to an appeal filed by Stodghill's attorneys.<\/p>\n

\tStodghill appealed to the Colorado Court of Appeals. That three-judge panel decided on Aug. 16, 2012, to affirm the district court judge's decision. The appellate judges affirmed because they found there was \u201ca lack of evidence\u201d the fetuses died because of negligence on the doctors' part.<\/p>\n

\tFollowing this decision, Stodghill has appealed to the state's supreme court. He asked that the Colorado Supreme Court decide \u201cthe issue that the Court of Appeals refused to decide,\u201d whether physicians are immune to malpractice suits when their negligence leads to the death of a viable fetus before its birth.<\/p>\n

\tStodghill is awaiting to hear whether or not they decide to hear the case \u2013 which has significant implications for the liability of physicians when a viable fetus in their care dies before birth.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2013 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Colorado's three bishops will examine litigation surrounding Catholic Health Initiatives, after its lawyers allegedly argued in a wrongful-death lawsuit that human fetuses are not persons.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nColo. bishops to review health system's fidelity to Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2013 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Colorado's three bishops will examine litigation surrounding Catholic Health Initiatives, after its lawyers allegedly argued in a wrongful-death lawsuit that human fetuses are not persons. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colo. bishops to review health system's fidelity to Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2013 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Colorado's three bishops will examine litigation surrounding Catholic Health Initiatives, after its lawyers allegedly argued in a wrongful-death lawsuit that human fetuses are not persons. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-25T11:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/\",\"name\":\"Colo. bishops to review health system's fidelity to Church\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-25T11:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-25T11:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2013 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Colorado's three bishops will examine litigation surrounding Catholic Health Initiatives, after its lawyers allegedly argued in a wrongful-death lawsuit that human fetuses are not persons. ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Colo. bishops to review health system’s fidelity to Church\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Colo. bishops to review health system's fidelity to Church","description":"Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2013 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Colorado's three bishops will examine litigation surrounding Catholic Health Initiatives, after its lawyers allegedly argued in a wrongful-death lawsuit that human fetuses are not persons. ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Colo. bishops to review health system's fidelity to Church","og_description":"Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2013 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Colorado's three bishops will examine litigation surrounding Catholic Health Initiatives, after its lawyers allegedly argued in a wrongful-death lawsuit that human fetuses are not persons. ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2013-01-25T11:03:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/","name":"Colo. bishops to review health system's fidelity to Church","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-25T11:03:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-25T11:03:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Denver, Colo., Jan 25, 2013 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Colorado's three bishops will examine litigation surrounding Catholic Health Initiatives, after its lawyers allegedly argued in a wrongful-death lawsuit that human fetuses are not persons. ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/colo-bishops-to-review-health-systems-fidelity-to-church-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Colo. bishops to review health system’s fidelity to Church"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}