Vice-President of Mission & Values
Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mathew Mathew, M.D., FACP
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
Mercy Catholic Medical Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sr. Donna Watto, RSM.
Vice President of Mission and Values
Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital
Darby, Pennsylvania
Greetings:
I write to you as officers of the Mercy Health System and advisory board members of the Institute of Catholic Bioethics at St. Joseph's University. I believe that scandalous seeds of confusion have been sown by Catholic hospitals in the archdiocese - so much so that it is misleading for them to be called "Catholic":
- 1) No Mercy Health System OBGYN can be identified on One More Soul's list of NFP only OBGYNs);
- 2) Mercy Health System's Vendor Compliance Program, does NOT clearly specify:
- Catholic teaching with regard to nutrition and hydration, and
- that health care services cannot honor non-specific directives to forego nutrition and hydration.
Sincerely,
