American Catholic Hospitals: A Century of Changing Markets and Missions

261 Pages·2011·12.86 MB·English

by  Barbra Mann Wall

American Catholic Hospitals
Critical Issues in Health and Medicine
Edited by Rima D. Apple, University of Wisconsin–Madison,
and Janet Golden, Rutgers University, Camden
Growing criticism of the U.S. health care system is coming from consumers,
politicians, the media, activists, and health care professionals. Critical Issues in
Health and Medicine is a collection of books that explores these contemporary
dilemmas from a variety of perspectives, among them political, legal, historical,
sociological, and comparative, and with attention to crucial dimensions such as
race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and culture.
For a list of titles in the series, see the last page of the book.
American Catholic Hospitals
A Century of Changing
Markets and Missions
Barbra Mann Wall
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wall, Barbra Mann.
American Catholic hospitals : a century of changing markets and missions / Barbra
Mann Wall.
p. cm. — (Critical issues in health and medicine)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–8135–4940–8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Catholic hospitals—United States—History—20th century. 2. Catholic hospitals—
United States—History—21st century. 3. Social change—United States—History—
20th century. 4. Social change—United States—History—21st century. 5. Catholic
hospitals—United States—Marketing—History. 6. Catholic hospitals—Social aspects—
United States—History. 7. Nuns—United States—History. 8. Nursing—United States—
Religious aspects—History. 9. Medical care—United States—Religious aspects—Catholic
Church—History. I. Title.
RA975.C37W33 2011
362.11088’2—dc22 2010017322
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2011 by Barbra Mann Wall
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written
permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer
Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as
defi ned by U.S. copyright law.
Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
For my parents, Billy and Jean Mann

Contents
List of Illustrations and Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
List of Abbreviations xv
Chapter 1 From Sisters in Habits to Men in Suits 1
Chapter 2 A Precarious Economic Scene 23
Chapter 3 Religion, Gender, and the Public Representation
of Catholic Hospitals 55
Chapter 4 Regardless of Color, Race, Creed, or Financial Status 73
Chapter 5 Catholic Hospitals and the Federal Government 103
Chapter 6 Harassed by Strikes or Threats of Strikes 127
Chapter 7 Practical Solutions to Complicated Problems 154
Chapter 8 S Stands for “Sister,” Not “Stupid” 175
Notes 187
Index 231
vii

Illustrations and Tables
Illustrations
1. Seton Daughters of Charity in boardroom, Austin, Texas,
ca. mid-1950s 8
2. Class of 1956, Mercy School of Nursing, Saint Xavier
College, Chicago, Illinois 14
3. Sister Gilberte Parent, SP, nursing supervisor, and lay nurses
with patient, Seattle, Washington, ca. 1963 25
4. Brother Ludolph Sattler, CFA, in the pharmacy, Chicago,
ca. 1945 32
5. Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Vincent
de Paul Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, ca. 1906 37
6. Sister Ferdinand Clark, RSM, with Mercy Hospital Board
of Trustees, Pittsburgh, ca. 1964 43
7. Chapel, Alexian Brothers Hospital, Chicago, ca. 1937 57
8. Volleyball team, Alexian Brothers School of Nursing, Chicago,
ca. 1951 68
9. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Sisters of Saint Joseph,
Good Samaritan Hospital, Selma, Alabama, 1965 97
10. Class at the School of Nursing, Providence Seattle,
Washington, 1935 105
11. Charles J. Barnett signs the Brackenridge/Seton agreement,
Austin, Texas, ca. 1995 160
Tables
1.1. Growth of Catholic Hospitals and Schools of Nursing,
1945–2000 12
1.2. Hospital Characteristics in Selected Cities, 1995 21
7.1. Catholic Health Care Provider Affi liations, 1990–1996 156
ix