Posing questions about the proposed partnership between St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and Christus Health is a bit like raising rabbits.

You put a couple together, wander away for a night or two, and bam — they've multiplied into a dozen more questions, said Peter Simonson, executive director of the ACLU of New Mexico.

Simonson has been working with other community groups to try to learn exactly what the deal will do to health care in Northern New Mexico.

Overall, they want to know how the Catholic organization Christus Health would affect services at the community hospital, and if it would force non-Catholics to abide by the judgments of a religion they don't subscribe to.

"We have state agencies, doctors and the community all raising questions about what this agreement would do," Simonson said. "It makes me wonder why St. Vincent and Christus are in such a rush to seal this partnership."

The latest batch of questions has come from the state Department of Health and the Human Services Department, which asked in a letter dated March 21 that the two parties wait up to 60 days so they can get more answers.

The biggest worry is that the hospital, once it partners with Christus, will have to follow Catholic ethical and religious directives, which could prevent some services in family counseling, contraception and end-of-life care.

"They agreed to hold off for a while, although they haven't told us how long," Human Services Department Secretary Pam Hyde said of the deal. "We're not so worried about the legality in the contract as we are in what the end result of all of this is going to be."

The partners had originally set a date of March 25 for when they hoped to seal the agreement. But both said they were willing to wait and work with the state to make sure all its questions are answered.

"We do not have another date set," said Arturo Delgado, a spokesman for St. Vincent. "At this point, we're responding to the state's questions. And we're happy to work with them."

The deal would eliminate about $37 million worth of debt carried by the hospital and allow it to expand services and access to the community, he said.

And while questions keep slowing down the agreement, the group is still dedicated to helping with those objectives, said Linda McClung, a spokeswoman for Christus.

"We are aware that the state has questions, and we're working with them to address the concerns," McClung said. "These sorts of deals are complicated and take awhile to move forward. We're very eager and very committed to making this work."

Hyde said the two parties have been "very responsive" to the state's questions over the past six weeks, but some things need more clarification.

One major point is that under the agreement, a new group would be founded called SupportCo that would handle services that conflict with Catholic ethical and religious directives. But to spin off that group would require new licenses for Medicaid and could require significant changes in hospital billing practices, Hyde said.

"It's not in our best interest to have a major player like St. Vincent be in a place where it can't get federal moneys because their organization and its licenses have changed," Hyde said.

Also, some of the funding for SupportCo will come from Christus, which means its ability to provide services such as end-of-life care or abortions for victims of rape or incest could come into question, Simonson said.

"The lines between the money and the services are blurred," he said. "In SupportCo, you have Christus funds intermingling with a group that will provide taboo services."

Christus has already said St. Vincent will have to change its abortion policy, and one part of that is that if a mother wants to terminate a fetus that can't survive beyond delivery, she will no longer be able to do that at the hospital, Simonson said.

"They have provided those terminations in the past," he said. "And they won't be able to anymore. And SupportCo will not be used for that, either. Which means people in the community will have to go elsewhere, and probably University of New Mexico Hospital is where most people will show up."

Because St. Vincent gets some of its funding from the state and the federal government, there should be room for the state to get involved if its questions aren't resolved in a satisfactory way, Simonson said.

But probably the only thing it can do is deny licenses for SupportCo and any other group if it's not happy with the deal, he said.

"As the ACLU our options are pretty limited," Simonson said. "It is a private hospital, but we're stuck in this curious position where it functions as a public hospital. We're hoping the state can get information that we haven't been able to get."

And the ACLU could also get involved later, if problems pop up, he said. "We'd certainly represent a patient that was denied services," Simonson said.

Overall, however, Hyde said she believes the two parties are trying their best to meet the needs of the community. She just wants to make sure all her questions are answered first, she said.

"This is a community facility that has been very dedicated to providing services for this community for 100 years," Hyde said. "I don't think we're interested in taking action against them right now. We're just trying hard to understand what the changes will be."

Contact Sue Vorenberg at 986-3072 or svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.