Full Description
Winner of the 2024 Donald W. Light Award for Applied Medical Sociology, American Sociological Association's Section on Medical Sociology
One out of every six patients in the United States is treated in a Catholic hospital that follows the policies of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These policies prohibit abortion, sterilization, contraception, some treatments for miscarriage and gender confirmation, and other reproductive care, undermining hard-won patients' rights to bodily autonomy and informed decision-making. Drawing on rich interviews with patients and providers, this book reveals both how the bishops' directives operate and how people inside Catholic hospitals navigate the resulting restrictions on medical practice. In doing so, Bishops and Bodies fleshes out a vivid picture of how The Church's stance on sex, reproduction, and "life" itself manifests in institutions that affect us all.
Contents
Foreword by Debra Stulberg
Prologue: Unsafe and Unequal
Introduction: Doctrinal Iatrogenesis
1 Growth: How Catholic Health Care Expanded
2 Inferior: How Catholic Directives Contradict Medical Standards
3 Consumer Medicine? Patients and the Illusion of Choice
4 Emergencies: Patient Loss and Suffering
5 Mostly Above-Board Workarounds
6 Under the Radar Workarounds
7 Separation of Church and Hospital
8 Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Appendix
Notes
Index
