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PREVIOUSLY

• ‘A Nightmare on Replay’: New Lawsuit Accuses St. Joseph Hospital of Denying Emergency Abortion Care to a Woman With Serious Medical Condition

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A woman suing Providence St. Joseph Hospital for allegedly denying her multiple emergency abortions wants a bishop to testify on the policies that stop doctors from terminating pregnancies.

But attorneys representing St. Joseph Health Northern California, LLC, (SJH) argue that forcing the man to offer his sworn testimony in court would chill the free exercise of religion, and called for a judge to prevent him from testifying.

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Timothy Canning agreed to consider this request after hearing arguments Monday.

An attorney for “Jane Roe,” the pseudonym of an anonymous patient, said the testimony of Santa Rosa Bishop Robert F. Vasa was essential.

Her lawsuit alleges that, by denying her an abortion on three occasions when she developed previable preterm premature rupture of membranes, the hospital violated a California law that requires hospitals with emergency departments to evaluate and stabilize anyone seeking care, alongside a civil rights law.

On one occasion she was turned away and miscarried her child the next morning in her obstetrician’s primary care office and “nearly hemorrhaged to death.” In another, she had to travel 5.5 hours by car to San Francisco while in active labor after being turned away at St. Joseph Hospital, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks damages and a permanent injunction preventing similar incidents.

Central to the case is the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) — the standards interpreted from theology that guide Catholic healthcare. This includes a strict prohibition of abortions, except when the alternative is the death of the mother and child.

Essential for this lawsuit is tracking down the hospital’s policy for abortions in emergency situations. Rachel Miller-Ziegler, attorney for Roe, said there was a “disputed factual issue” of the hospital’s abortion policy in court Monday.

Treating physicians said they had to delay care for Roe due to a fetal heartbeat policy. However, hospital attorneys have not supplied them with a specific written policy. They further allege SJH has “stonewalled” efforts to obtain discovery elsewhere.

Vasa is the person who will have a clear answer to whether or not this policy existed, Miller-Ziegler argued, and must play a central role in hospital policy.

Vasa heads the Diocese of Santa Rosa, which is made up of six California counties including Humboldt. He is responsible for assuring the “Catholicity” of Catholic organizations in this region, he wrote in a declaration, including adherence to the standards that guide Catholic healthcare.

Vasa previously notified Providence that the hospital’s agreement with the state, in a related lawsuit, violated Catholic rules.

From the Bishop, who they say initially agreed to to be deposed, attorneys are specifically looking for the guidance to hospitals on pregnancy care and what would happen if a hospital didn’t follow these directives, she said. These polices on medical care have “real world consequences” she said.

Miller-Ziegler said there is a path forward in respecting the First Amendment while getting Roe the information she needs.

But attorneys for SJH argue that any communication between the hospital and Vasa is protected by the First Amendment. They want to quash the subpoena and get a protective order preventing the plaintiff from deposing him.

“The hospital is not just a hospital with a cross on it,” said Harvey Rochman, attorney for SJH. He said in every level of the hospital, the church is woven in.

According to a declaration of a hospital employee, the hospital’s operating agreement requires it to operate in line with the ERDs. Embedded into the bylaws, management and operations is the Catholic mission.

Rochman said Vasa’s role is entirely religious in nature. He argued all communications between Vasa and the hospital relate to ecclesiastical matters, which he said is a constitutionally restricted space. He said it’s all “internal church communications.”

SJH attorneys point to the Church Autonomy Doctrine under the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from meddling in certain affairs of religious institutions.

Roe’s attorneys say they plan to avoid constitutionally suspect topics.

Deposing Vasa “would chill the free exercise of religion” by forcing a Bishop to share information that would be used against the Church to establish liability, said Rochman. And he argued there wasn’t proof Vasa is the only source of the policy.

Judge Canning took the matter under submission. While he has 90 days to issue a written ruling, he said he aims to do so sooner.

Two similar lawsuits, one by the state Attorney General’s Office, are ongoing for emergency abortion care at the hospital.

In one case, SJH attorneys are similarly trying to block a deposition of a former Providence employee in a lawsuit filed by the National Women’s Law Center on behalf of Eureka Chiropractor Anna Nusslock.

SJH attorneys argue the role of the former employee, whose title was Executive Vice President and Chief Mission & Sponsorship Officer, was purely religious and he set no policy.

More broadly, they argue there is no secular system-wide policy on pregnancy to discover.

A hearing is on this issue is scheduled September 18.

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In the case where the state of California is suing SJH over emergency abortions at the hospital, attorneys said they continue to engage in settlement discussions, in a hearing Monday. The Attorney General’s office and SJH both want speed, attorneys said.

The next hearing is November 2.