Some Catholic hospitals make it hard for physicians to provide referrals for reproductive services

(Wiley) Catholic hospitals, which represent a growing share of health care in the United States, prohibit staff from providing many common reproductive health services, including ones related to sterilization, contraception, abortion, and fertility. While professional ethics guidelines recommend that clinicians who deny patients reproductive services for moral or religious reasons provide a timely referral to prevent patient harm, a new study shows that some Catholic hospitals make it difficult ...