Chicago, Ill., Sep 1, 2016 / 05:04 am
A woman with a dislodged intrauterine device claims she was turned down for removal of the device at a Catholic hospital because her doctor said the procedure went against Catholic rules on contraception.
However, relevant directives from the U.S. bishops do not prevent the removal of contraceptive devices.
Melanie Jones, 28, slipped and fell in her bathroom, dislodging her copper IUD to the point that it needed removal. She visited her doctor at Mercy Medical Group at Dearborn Station, an off-site location of Chicago's Mercy Hospital and Medical Center.
She claims her doctor said she could not remove the IUD due to the hospital's policy of following the U.S. Catholic bishop's ethical and religious directives for health care. Jones said the doctor also told her that every other hospital in her network followed the same restrictions.