Yet, despite the efforts of pro-choice lawmakers there are no safeguards in place to mandate other hospital-based reproductive health services, like sterilization or abortion, or in end-of-life care procedures that require the removal of feeding tubes or ventilators at tax-exempt, nonprofit facilities.
An 11th-hour reprieve wrapped up in red tape
Since the summer arbitration ruling, Community First and the Sisters of Charity have forged a new deal that keeps the foundation on as a co-partner but exempts it from any fiscal responsibility for the mounting $2.1 billion in capital needs at the three hospitals. The duo will then transfer control of Exempla to the Sisters of Charity, putting it in complete charge of the hospitals’ administration.
Critics of the latest deal pinned their hopes on a 2008 state law that requires the state attorney general to review nonprofit hospital transactions that could substantially change hospital services the public has come to expect. Despite that law, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, an anti-choice Republican, said in November there was no need to hold a hearing on the Sisters of Charity deal because it was now merely a change in bylaws and not a merger.
Meanwhile, the two partners continue to finalize the phasing out of Exempla’s independence. A new board of directors, comprised of an equal number of appointees by Community First and the Sisters of Charity, was announced Dec. 13.
The last remaining obstacle to the church’s imposition of religious directives on care is the Federal Trade Commission which must approve the deal.
A decision was expected by year-end but has not yet been made public. An FTC spokesperson could not be reached for comment about the delay.
