Mahony joins cardinals apposing hospital sales - sales of Catholic hospitals to for-profit enterprises - Roger M. Cardinal Mahony

National Catholic Reporter, Nov 7, 1997 by Pamela Schaeffer

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles joined a chorus of U.S. Catholic leaders condemning sales of Catholic hospitals to for-profit enterprises when he issued a strong statement Oct. 21 opposing the sale of a Catholic hospital in Los Angeles to Tenet Healthcare Corp.

Mahony made his opposition public just three weeks after Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis publicly denounced the proposed sale of St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis to Tenet.

Mahony's statement objects to a plan to sell Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center to Tenet. The hospital in north central Los Angeles retained its Catholic identity after a merger of two hospitals in 1989. Mahony said he was opposing the sale because "Catholic tradition views health care as a public good rather than a commodity to be sold for profit."

When the controversy erupted in St. Louis in early October, the clash between Rigali, a high-ranking prelate, and a university president and board heightened growing tensions between U.S. Catholic church and educational leaders.

Rigali's opposition drew immediate backing from Cardinals Bernard Law of Boston, James Hickey of Washington and John O'Connor of New York (NCR Oct. 24 and 30). Each issued a statement in Rigali's support, hinting at possible Vatican intervention.

In a recent development in St. Louis, Fr. Lawrence Biondi, president of St. Louis University, said Oct. 27 that the school's medical school would be forced to close Within 10 years without the sale of the hospital to Tenet. The company has reportedly offered $300 million -- $100 million more than an offer from a group of Catholic hospitals.

In Los Angeles, Mahony said of the sale of Queen of Angels, "I would welcome their collaboration and even affiliation with other Catholic nonprofit health care providers, but I cannot condone their proposed sale to a for-profit provider," Mahony said.

Rigali expressed a similar sentiment in St. Louis on Oct. 4 -- the day the St. Louis University board signed a letter of intent to sell to Tenet -- in his first public statement of opposition.

Mahony's statement, released some two months after the Los Angeles hospital signed its letter of intent with Tenet, coincided with the controversy in St. Louis but was not prompted by it, according to Fr. Gregory Coiro, media relations director for the Los Angeles archdiocese.

Coiro said the catalyst for Mahony's letter had been a campaign just beginning in Los Angeles aimed at keeping the hospital under control of a not-for-profit organization.

Mahony referred to events in St Louis, however, saying, "I note with great disappointment the decision by the St Louis University Board of Trustees ... and I applaud and support (Rigali's) efforts ... to use every means possible to retain the St. Louis University Hospital as a nonprofit health care provider."

In both cities, officials of the Catholic hospitals said Tenet had not only substantially outbid other potential buyers but had also agreed to retain key elements of the hospitals' Catholic identity.

Tenet, the nation's second-largest for profit hospital chain after Columbia/HCA, owns 131 hospitals in 22 states. According to Lance Ignon, spokesman for Tenet in Santa Barbara, Calif., four of the company's hospitals were founded as Catholic institutions and continue to operate under the ethical and religious directives of U.S. Catholic bishops.

The four Catholic hospitals sold to Tenet are Memorial Medical Center Mercy Campus in New Orleans (formerly Mercy Baptist Medical Center), St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha, Neb., Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., and St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass.

Ignon said company officials have a strong preference for retaining local identity -- including the hospital's original name.

He cited an article in the Worcester, Mass., Sunday Telegram on March 30, describing the way Sisters of Mercy in New Orleans, on the eve of the sale to Tenet, "swept through the hospital" removing all the crucifixes from patient rooms. Tenet replaced all the crucifixes, the article said, because, according to a company official, Tenet regards religious belief as an important element in the healing process.

In Omaha, church and university officials say the Catholic mission at Tenet-owned St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha is "flourishing." St. Joseph is the teaching hospital for Creighton University Medical-School Catholic.

Hospitals sold to for-profit groups are rejected for membership in the Catholic Health Association, however. The St. Louis-based association disputes the argument that for-profit hospitals can fulfill a Catholic mission and accepts only not-for-profit hospitals as members. The association reports that, since 1984, 50 Catholic hospitals have been sold and another 10 have merged with other institutions and are no longer defined as Catholic.

In a statement issued Oct. 27 in Los Angeles, Sylvester Graff, Queen of Angels president and CEO, said the board respects Cardinal Mahony's concerns and shares his commitment to the Catholic health care mission. "Any transaction for the sale of the hospital will be consistent with that mission," he said.