Privacy rules stunting ministry in hospitals

By PAUL QUIRINI- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Not long ago, a priest visiting Seton Health/St. Mary's Hospital in Troy could read an entire list of patients' names, addresses and room numbers to determine whether or not his parishioners or people living in his parish boundaries had been admitted.

Now, a priest sees only a list of names and religious denominations of patients who don't object to being visited by a priest, so it's possible that his parishioners and neighbors are not included.

This policy change is meant to protect patients' privacy, but Rev. James Spenard, OSA, pastor of St. Augustine's Church in Troy, hopes Seton Health/St. Mary's reconsiders its position.

"The list became a great tool for evangelization and keeping up with people who were away from the faith, and it gave you the ability to check on people you knew," he said. "It's a bad decision for us, and it makes hospital care difficult for the local pastors. Our people expect us to come around."

Privacy question

The delicate balance between a priest's desire to minister to hospitalized Catholics and patients' right not to publicize the fact that they have been admitted is at the heart of this issue, with hospital administration and some members of the clergy taking opposite sides.

Seton Health/St. Mary's used to permit priests to read a full list of every patient who had been admitted to the hospital, but administrators recently were notified that this policy wasn't in keeping with the Patients' Bill of Rights.

It says that a patient in a hospital in New York State has the right, consistent with law, to "privacy while in the hospital and confidentiality of all information and records regarding your care," so making the names of all patients available to priests seemed to conflict with this right.

Changing policy

"It was brought to our attention that our policy was clearly in violation of this," said Pamela Rehak, Seton Health/St. Mary's spokesperson.

The Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations also has addressed this issue by advising hospitals to get a patient's consent before notifying priests or spiritual leaders, or risk reprimand for failure to respect privacy.

Seton Health/St. Mary's informs all patients upon admission to the hospital that clergy will be notified unless they object. "The person has to affirmatively state that they don't want the clergy notified," Mrs. Rehak said. A patient's name and religious denomination are included in the list read by priests, along with the patient's parish, if known; but the names of patients who don't want the clergy notified aren't included in the list.

Priest's view

Father Spenard, who recently wrote about this policy change in St. Augustine's bulletin, wishes he still could read the list with all patients' names, addresses and room numbers during his hospital visits. He says other priests in Troy share his opinion.

"Most of us in the area have approached the chaplain's office and administration to get it changed," he said. "All of us in the city help out with coverage there."

As a solution, he suggests providing the old list in a restricted place or registering priests as people who are authorized to read the list.

But Mrs. Rehak said the new policy keeps Catholics' wishes in mind while respecting their rights as patients.

"We're a Catholic hospital, and if people expect and want their priests to come visit them, we want to accommodate that," she said. "We have addressed the concerns of the majority of the priests who visit. We also want to make sure that patients' confidentiality is protected. People have a right to be here and not have visitors."

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