Surprise! The Attorney General Approves Selling off Caritas

“In any transaction involving the transfer of a hospital’s charitable assets to a for-profit entity, the Attorney General’s Office has statutory authority to conduct a review of the proposed transfer. In its review of the Caritas transaction, the Attorney General’s Office found that: (1) it is impracticable for Caritas to continue to survive in its current charitable form; (2) due care was followed by the Caritas Board and senior management during the transaction; (3) the Board and senior management appropriately disclosed and managed conflicts of interest; (4) the transfer of assets affords Caritas fair value for its assets and operations; and (5) the transfer is in the public interest.”

Of course it is.

It would be preposterous to think otherwise.

Here is CJ Doyle's press release:

NEWS RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE

(617) 524-6309

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CRITICIZES ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S

RECOMMENDATION ON CARITAS CHRISTI SALE

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized the recommendation made by Attorney-General Martha Coakley to the Supreme Judicial Court approving the sale of Caritas Christi Health Care---the network of six Catholic hospitals affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston---to the Steward Healthcare System, a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management.

The Attorney-General's recommendation left intact the termination clause which will allow the new owners to end the hospitals' Catholic identity at anytime if they find compliance with Catholic medical ethics to be"materially burdensome", provided they are willing to pay a twenty-five million dollar buy-out penalty to a charity designated by the Archdiocese of Boston.

The Supreme Judicial Court is expected to follow the Attorney-General's recommendation. Approval is still pending from the Department of Public Health and the Holy See.

The Catholic Action League called the Attorney-General's report "a decisive turning point in the impending loss of Catholic health care in Greater Boston."

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: "Although Martha Coakley deserves some credit for extending the period during which the hospitals cannot be closed, and in trying to ensure care for the indigent, her refusal to address the issue of the termination clause will likely result in the secularization of  the six hospitals under the new owners. This means the abandonment of Catholic medical ethics, including the right to life from conception to natural death, the loss of conscience protections for pro-life doctors and nurses, a reduction in charitable care for the poor, and the replacement of Catholic social teaching in employee relations, such as the family wage, with the free market law of supply and demand."

"Catholics must now turn to the Holy See as the last court of appeal if one hundred and forty-seven years of Catholic health care in Boston is to be preserved."

Check this out:

"Additional protections negotiated by Coakley’s office include an assurance that the six hospitals will not be transferred for three years, extending the period by which hospitals may not be closed from three to five years provided certain conditions are met...

I'm looking forward to seeing the conditions, aren't you?

Let me take a stab at a translation:

Carney has to turn a profit.

Jack Connors takes formal possession of the crozier, ring and mitre.

Partners Health Care just so happens to need 7 more hospitals.

The Archdiocese needs the Cardinal's multi-million dollar payoff for the loss of Catholic identity.

This is not an unexpected outcome since Caritas was already spending  the money they didn't have to buy up other hospitals, start the renovations and removal of religious symbols.

Check out the post at Boston Catholic Insider where we are reminded that Coakley has brought the chicken home to roost.  Catholics can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn't work in the emergency room.