This week, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a federal lawsuit alleging mistreatment of a woman in the days leading up to her miscarriage at a Catholic hospital in Muskegon, Michigan. The ACLU accuses Mercy Health Partners of negligence for, among other things, failing to direct Tamesha Means to a hospital that could have safely terminated her nonviable pregnancy after her water broke at only 18 weeks gestation.
The details of the hospital staff’s conduct can be found in the complaint. According to the ACLU, Means miscarried as Mercy Health staff members were preparing to discharge her—for the third time in two days.
It might be tempting to view the lawsuit as another attempt by pro-choice activists to force pro-lifers to subsidize or participate in conduct inimical to their moral convictions. But the facts of the case may well point to negligence. I make no claim either way.
Instead, I wish to point out that Tamesha Means could not have easily gone to another hospital, perhaps one offering the full range of women’s health services, because there is no such hospital. Mercy Health is the only hospital in Muskegon County (population 170,000) and the only one within 30 minutes of Means’ home.
Michigan is one of 28 states that artificially caps the number of hospital beds available in a given region. To open or expand a hospital, health providers must first obtain a “certificate of need” (CON) by convincing state health planners that there is a need for more beds. (Another eight states have CON laws, but have rescinded their rules on hospital beds.)
CON proponents argue that providers will fill every bed they build room for, so restrictions on hospital bed inventories are necessary to hold down costs. Planners also want to ensure the number of beds is sufficient to meet a community’s needs. Michigan thus employs a complicated formula purported to arrive at the precise number of beds necessary to supply, but not oversupply, the market.
Using the formula, Michigan’s Department of Community Health has determined that the Muskegon region has too many beds—exactly 203 too many, in fact. Thus, any potential competitor wishing to enter the market would certainly be denied permission.
