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Life Advocacy Briefing # 6-40 -- week of
October 11, 1999
'If This Isn't Infanticide'
THE FEDERAL HEALTH CARE FINANCE ADMINISTRATION (HCFA) is looking into findings by the
Illinois Dept. of Public Health related to reports that "defective" babies are
being forced into premature birth and left to die at a prominent hospital (called
"Christ" Hospital) in Oak Lawn, Illinois. No published hospital policy
authorizes the practice, which has reportedly been used at least 84 times since 1995.
Hospital administrators, who have used a female "chaplain" as the official media
spokesman defending the hospital, claim the practice is "compassionate" and
refer to the inducement of premature labor as "therapeutic termination of
pregnancy," though no therapy or medical support is provided to the babies and the
only "benefit" delivered to the mother is a dead baby whose birth came too early
for survival.
The public health investigator's conclusions have not been made public, but the state's
report has been delivered to HCFA, which requires compliance with federal laws and
regulations in return for Medicare funding eligibility. HCFA's response could come
as early as this week.
ŠLife Advocacy Resource Project, Inc., 1999
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