I was appalled by the cover of your Sept. 28 issue, which led into the article "What hospitals won't do for a merger: Deals involving Catholic facilities often mean a loss of reproductive services (p. 28)." The cover can only be interpreted as an outrageous and demeaning presentation of religious systems and the dedicated nuns who have operated the Catholic healthcare system in this country for many years. The article speaks of "prohibitions the church slaps on certain reproductive services."
Catholic hospitals were serving the poor, frequently without recompense, for many decades prior to federal and state requirements for community hospitals to do the same. Their compassion for their patients should be unquestioned, and their ethical principles, including those relevant to reproduction, should be respected, not ridiculed.
I have worked in healthcare delivery for most of my working life, and I have experienced more than one Catholic hospital bailing out its failing neighbor by acquiring its debts and responsibility for its operation.
Frank Mahoney
President
NJPR
Parsippany, N.J.
