COLORADO
The Denver Post
Posted: 01/24/2013
By Electa Draper
The Denver Post denverpost.com
Colorado’s three Catholic bishops Thursday evening said they will make a full review of a lawsuit in which a Catholic hospital defending against malpractice has argued that fetuses aren’t persons.
Jeremy Stodghill filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in District Court in Fremont County after his 31-year-old wife, Lori, seven months pregnant with twin boys, died of a blockage of the main artery of the lung at St. Thomas More Hospital in Cañon City on New Year’s Day 2006.
Stodghill’s lawyer argued that her obstetrician, Pelham Staples, never made it to the hospital — even though on call for emergencies — and there was no attempt by any medical personnel to save the Stodghills’ sons by cesarian section.The unborn children died in the womb.
The lead defendant is Englewood-based Catholic Health Initiatives, which runs St. Thomas More and hospitals in 14 states.
The Catholic Church has fought for decades to change federal and state laws to protect fetuses as persons. Yet, according to court documents, Catholic Health Initiatives argued in this case that the Colorado Wrongful Death Act requires the death of a person and the statute doesn’t include the death of a fetus that wasn’t born or delivered.
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