St. Vincent Center refuses to release contract with Christus

Sue Vorenberg | The New Mexican

3/4/2008 - 3/5/08

There's a short way and a long way to describe how the board of St. Vincent Regional Medical Center responded to a request to reveal contract language from its proposed partnership with the Catholic Christus Health.

First, the short answer: They said no.

Several community groups had asked the hospital to release specific language in the contract because they fear the partnership will force the hospital to adhere to Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives, which don't support birth control and some end-of-life care.

The longer answer to their request, which came in the form of a letter to Jane Wishner, executive director of the Southwest Women's Law Center, and Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, was also a no — but it did come with a description of what's in the contract, although that information has been released in the past.

It said Christus won't interfere with communications between physicians and patents, the governing documents for St. Vincent's staff will stay the same, and contraceptive services will continue to be provided for victims of rape or incest, among other things.

But groups have argued that it's important to make sure the language in the contract protects community rights. And in that regard, the letter doesn't do much.

"As we have stated previously, the agreements between St. Vincent Hospital and Christus are private documents. However, we have described to you specifically and to the public generally the key terms of the agreements that bear on the concerns you have raised," said the letter, signed by David Gunderson, chairman of the St. Vincent board, and St. Vincent president and chief executive officer Alex Valdez.