Louisville Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz said Thursday he would only approve a merged hospital system under Roman Catholic ownership if all the participants, including University Hospital, agreed to follow the church's ethical rules for medical care.
"If something calls itself a Catholic ministry, it is the responsibility of the bishop to ensure as best we can that that indeed is an accurate title," Kurtz told a meeting of the Rotary Club of Louisville about the pending merger of Catholic, Jewish and University hospital systems in Louisville and other Kentucky cities.
In the speech Kurtz spoke for the first time publicly about the impending merger since controversies arose over the how it would affect healthcare procedures prohibited under Catholic doctrine.
Kurtz emphasized that all Catholic directives on health care must be followed.
The merger, which also needs the approval of Gov. Steve Beshear, would combine University Hospital with Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare and the Lexington-based St. Joseph Health System, which is owned by Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives.
CHI would have a controlling ownership stake and, along with St. Joseph, appoint a majority on the board of the new entity.
The approvals of Kurtz and Lexington Bishop Ronald Gainer are required for the combined entity to officially be a Catholic institution, as is planned.
Kurtz also said in a brief interview he couldn't foresee a situation in which University or Jewish hospitals would operate under Catholic ownership without also following the formal Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Heath Care Service.
Critics fear that health care could be curtailed at University Hospital — a core element of the city's public healthcare network, particularly for the poor — because of Catholic restrictions on such things as end-of-life decisions, emergency abortions and tubal ligations.
"Certainly members of the community have a right to ask questions about how health care is provided, especially in the midst of major institutional changes," Kurtz said in a column in Thursday's edition of The Record, the Archdiocese of Louisville's newspaper.
"However, this dialogue should proceed in a respectful and fair manner. When church teaching is caricatured and sound provision of services is dismissed as bigotry, no one is truly served."
Dr. Edward Halperin, dean of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, said Kurtz's comments did not surprise him.
"I have understood the point of view articulated by Archbishop Kurtz from the start of the merger conversation," he said in an email. "This is a hospital merger, not a merger of this public university, its School of Medicine, or its faculty. We will serve the citizens from whom our support derives. We are the people's university."
He added: "Elective abortion, medically indicated abortion if the mother's health is in danger, and tubal ligation will continue to be available from my faculty" at some location.
"We have made a promise," he said. "We will keep it."
He said the faculty "does not engage in euthanasia or assisted suicide."
University physicians already "provide a full range of reproductive health services," and he added that the same is true of faculty doctors in other cities who work at Catholic-affiliated hospitals or universities.
"They do so by performing some procedures in Catholic hospitals and some in non-Catholic hospitals, the doctors' offices, or university-owned buildings," he said.
Honi Goldman — who helped coordinate an ad in The Courier-Journal last month with hundreds of signers protesting any merger that comes with medical restrictions — said she admires Kurtz for making his position clear.
"I would expect nothing less from the archbishop — which is the concern whenever you mix religion with public funds," she said. She opposes "religious policy mandated in what is a public hospital."
State Rep. Tom Burch opposes the merger for the same reason.
Burch co-chairs the interim legislative joint Committee on Health and Welfare, which plans an Aug. 17 hearing on the merger proposal.
University Hospital "belongs to the citizens," he said. "It does not belong to the Catholic Church. As a conscientious Catholic, I have an obligation to my constituents and to the people of Kentucky (to see that) that they do not fall under dictates that they do not believe in."
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