[article] 'Catholic' Hospitals and Secular medicine.

Am I wrong or is the issue arising from the fact that the Hospital is owned by the religious order. Whether or not it is funded by the Government, I'm sure the proprietors have a right to say what goes.

Personally I don't agree with it, I'm sure a righteous God wouldn't want to see anyone die over a contraceptive issue - but the alternative is that if forced, the order refuses to let the Doctors practice medicine on their premises - it'sa no win outcome.

Of couse, if this happened the state could threaten to withdraw funding - if the order refused to back down, the hospital closes - No winners again (except Mary Harney who now can commission another private vnture)

These problems arise due to the close ties forged between Church and state in the DeValera years - the State was happy for the Church to run schools and hospitals as thy were singing from the same Hynm book (literally) - now thatthings are becoming increasingly secular, the fact that the church owns most of the buildings is causing major friction. The only real solution is for the State to build and run their own Hospitals/Schools etc. and for that to happen we'll just have to pul up some seats and make sure they are verrrrrrry comfy...