Seattle Town Hall Wednesday on the takeover by Catholic hospitals

Legal Voice, which “secures and protects women’s legal rights”, reports:

Perhaps you have heard: Washington State is experiencing an unprecedented wave of mergers between religious hospitals and secular, community hospitals. By the end of 2013, nearly half of Washington’s hospital beds could be under Catholic influence or outright control.

What do these hospital takeovers and religious restrictions on health care mean for you? For your community?

Catholic hospitals have policies that can limit access to high-quality health care – including end-of-life care, reproductive health, and care for LGBT patients. Patients may not even learn of these restrictions until they are in an emergency situation. And many areas have only one hospital available, so choosing another provider simply isn’t an option.

Please join us at a Town Hall forum where experts will discuss how secular-religious hospital mergers affect patient access to comprehensive health care and what communities can do to ensure access.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

7 – 9 p.m.

Seattle Town Hall

1119 8th Ave.

Seattle, WA 98101

This event is free!

Please RSVP at our Facebook page or at mjohnson@LegalVoice.org.