Catholic Health Initiatives and the Archdiocese of Denver said recently that one of CHI's hospitals should not have defended itself against a negligence and wrongful death suit by arguing that Colorado law does not recognize fetuses as people.
Englewood, Colo.-based CHI said in a statement last month that it was "morally wrong" for defense lawyers for St. Thomas More Hospital of Ca–on City, Colo., to cite the state's wrongful death act. "That act does not consider fetuses to be persons, which directly contradicts the moral teachings of the church," CHI said in its statement.
The suit — called Stodghill vs. Pelner in the Colorado Court of Appeals docket — stemmed from the Jan. 1, 2006, death of Lori Stodghill, who was seven months pregnant with twin sons. According to court documents, Stodghill had complained to an obstetrician of nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath and decreased fetal movement; and on that doctor's advice she sought emergency treatment, at St. Thomas More. Upon her arrival, she stopped breathing and collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. A physician tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate Stodghill as a nurse used Doppler equipment and determined there was no fetal movement or heart tones. An ultrasound confirmed the finding.
An autopsy revealed that Stodghill died of pulmonary emboli.
The woman's husband, Jeremy Stodghill, brought suit against the hospital and two physicians.
In asking the trial court for a summary judgment, lawyers for St. Thomas More successfully argued that because the twins had not been born alive, they did not qualify as persons under the state's wrongful death act. Therefore, the lawyers said, Jeremy Stodghill was not entitled to damages under that statute. The lawyers also argued that it was not at all likely the mother or her twins would have survived the medical episode, even if clinicians had performed an emergency caesarean section. Judge David M. Thorson of the 11th Judicial District Court granted summary judgment in favor of CHI, St. Thomas More and the doctors in December 2010.
CHI said the hospital dropped the argument about the law's nonrecognition of the personhood of fetuses when it successfully defended an appeal of Judge Thorson's ruling last year. The Colorado Court of Appeals said the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate that the defendants' conduct caused the death of the twins or their mother. Stodghill has appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court.
In its recent statement, CHI said both the 11th Circuit Court and the Colorado Court of Appeals have supported the position of CHI and its hospital, "that nothing done by doctors, nurses and other staff members would have changed (the) horrible outcome."
In February, four top CHI executives met with Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver; Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Bishop Fernando Isern of Pueblo, Colo. The CHI executives affirmed the system's adherence to the church's stance that every person is created in the image and likeness of God and that life begins at the moment of conception.
In statements released following the meeting, the system and church said Colorado law "fails to adequately protect the rights of the unborn," and they will "work for laws that respect the rights of the unborn."