Court Weighs Health District's Pact with Newport, Ore., Hospital
>(Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)
>
>
>By Matt Sabo, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
>
> Nov. 29--NEWPORT, Ore.--In a case that has drawn statewide and
>national interest from abortion-rights and assisted-suicide organizations,
> a trial is under way to see whether Providence Health Systems can
>"affiliate" and effectively manage a public health district.
> Earlier this year, the board of directors of Pacific Communities
>Health District, which operates a Newport hospital and five clinics
>in central and southern Lincoln County, signed an affiliation agreement
>with Providence Health Systems, which is run by the Sisters of Providence
>Catholic order.
> The agreement is on hold until Lincoln County Circuit Judge Robert
>Huckleberry determines whether it is valid. Huckleberry is expected
>to hear arguments and testimony all week.
> Pacific Communities board members say the affiliation is a lifesaving
>deal for the financially ailing district, which will use Providence'
>s reputation, buying power and expertise to offer more and better
>services to its coastal clients.
> Others see a broach of constitutional law because the agreement
>calls for Providence to use public tax money to help patients who
>can't afford to pay their medical bills. They also say it will prohibit
>reproductive and end-of-life services.
> In a pretrial ruling, Huckleberry distilled the voluminous legal
>briefs, memos and arguments down to three central issues:
> -- Whether the $450,000 in tax funds directed to Providence from
>Pacific Communities Health District benefits Providence as a religious
>institution.
> -- Whether the affiliation agreement, in operation, avoids excessive
>government entanglement with religion.
> -- Whether the hospital is going to be operated as a pervasively
>religious institution.
> Jane Paulson, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who
>is representing Newport attorney and district taxpayer Rose Jade,
>said in her opening statement that combining tax money with Catholic
>directives is akin to mixing oil and water.
> Art LaFrance, representing a nine-member group opposed to the
>affiliation arrangement, said the agreement represents an impermissible
>breach of the walls between religion and government. He also characterized
>the agreement as one-sided, with Providence's return to taxpayers
>and residents negligible while the district would suffer a "net loss."
>
> The health district's board "did not have to make a wholesale
>giveaway of a going operation," LaFrance said.
> But Rick Marston, an attorney representing Providence, said the
>tax money will be "used solely for the benefit and improvement of
>health care in the district." To its core, he said, Providence is
>devoted to excellence in health care and delivering it to as many
>people as possible.
> Michael Fraser, Pacific Communities Health District administrator,
> testified Tuesday that no employee would lose his or her job under
>the affiliation agreement. Paulson, though, pressed him on whether
>employees will have to accede to Catholic directives that bar providing
>abortions and physician-assisted suicide.
> "At the district hospital . . . any medical provider will have
>to conform to Catholic directives, correct?" Paulson said.
> "In terms of their hospital employment, yes," Fraser said.
>
> -----
> To see more of The Oregonian, or to subscribe the newspaper,
>go to http://www.oregonian.com
>
>Matt Sabo, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore., Court Weighs Health District's
>Pact with Newport, Ore., Hospital. , Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News,
>11-29-2000.