Interesting article in NY Times today about ACLU suing bishops over mixing religious doctrines into medicine:
Bishops Sued Over Policies on Abortion at Hospitals
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: December 2, 2013
The American Civil Liberties Union announced on Monday that it had filed a lawsuit against the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, arguing that their anti- abortion directives to Catholic hospitals hamper proper care of pregnant women in medical distress, leading to medical negligence.
The suit was filed in federal court in Michigan on Friday on behalf of a woman who says she did not receive accurate information or care at a Catholic hospital there, exposing her to dangerous infections after her water broke at 18 weeks of pregnancy .
In an unusual step, she is not suing the hospital, Mercy Health Partners in Muskegon, but rather the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Its ethical and religious directives, the suit alleges, require Catholic hospitals to avoid abortion or referrals, “even when doing so places a woman’s health or life at risk.”
(rest of the story available at the link above)
Of course, the target of the suit is the Roman Catholic bishops for meddling into the policies of hospitals they own and control, but the parallels to the JWs on the blood issue are obvious, as they're likely aware of the potential for 'wrongful death' lawsuits and have been trying to distance themselves from that possibility whenever possible, with HLC who are advised to approach it as an 'informed consent' issue, etc.
Adam