Groups to Mobilize Community Against Proposed Partnership with CHRISTUS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 5, 2008 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003
SANTA FE—A coalition of community organizations on Wednesday announced its opposition to the proposed partnership between St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS Health after St. Vincent Hospital refused to share details of the partnership agreement, which they claim would protect family planning and end-of-life care at the hospital.
“Because of St. Vincent Hospital’s ongoing refusal to be transparent and to provide written, legally binding assurances to the community, we must oppose this partnership,” Diane Wood, director of the Northern Regional Office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The Southwest Women’s Law Center (SWWLC), another coalition member, agreed.
“The only promises that matter are those in the final contract between CHRISTUS, St. Vincent and SupportCo,” said SWWLC Executive Director, Jane Wishner. “Promises on a Web site, in a press release, at a public meeting or in a letter to advocates are not binding; what matters is what the parties agree to in writing with each other.”
Over the past month, the coalition – which includes the ACLU of New Mexico, Southwest Women’s Law Center, NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, Compassion & Choices, New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Center, Equality New Mexico, The MergerWatch Project, and The National Women’s Law Center –  met with the St. Vincent Hospital Board of Directors, held a community meeting, and gathered nearly 700 signatures from concerned community members all in an effort to get St. Vincent Hospital to share its partnership agreement with the community.
The coalition formed over concerns that a partnership between St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS, a Dallas-based Catholic health cooperation, would compromise family planning and end-of-life care at the Santa Fe hospital because they would be required to follow the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives. Hospital officials have repeatedly told coalition members that those services would be provided, but have refused to share the specifics.
“St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS Health want us to trust them that family planning services will still be provided under the proposed partnership,” said Heather Brewer, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, “but I am more comfortable trusting women, their families and their physicians to decide which health care options they want and need.”
Coalition partners now plan to undertake a public education campaign to increase public opposition to the partnership.
“We are now urging Northern New Mexicans to write letters to the board members of St. Vincent Hospital to voice their concerns,” Wood said.  “We will be working with the community to educative and build opposition to this merger.”

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Coalition Wants the Hospital to Make a Commitment to the Community that They Will Share Details of Partnership Agreement with the Public

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 29, 2008 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003
SANTA FE - In a letter sent to the St. Vincent Hospital Board of Directors on Wednesday, a coalition of community groups called on board members to tell the public by March 4th whether the hospital will share details of its proposed partnership agreement with Catholic-run CHRISTUS Health and how that partnership would affect the provision of family planning, reproductive health services, and end-of-life care at the hospital.
“We have recommended specific contractual language, have requested an opportunity to review the relevant documents, and have asked when the Board will be asked to approve the final agreement and have gotten no answers from St. Vincent.  The community has a right to know what healthcare will be available after this Partnership is finalized.”  Jane Wishner, Executive Director of the Southwest Women’s Law Center, who signed the letter with the ACLU of New Mexico, submitted to the St. Vincent Board on Wednesday.
The coalition of community groups last week held a town hall meeting at which more than 100 people expressed their concerns about the partnership. On Tuesday, coalition group leaders met with the board and presented them with a petition signed by more than 500 community members calling on the hospital to share the details of the partnership agreement.
“We’re asking St. Vincent, as a community hospital, to make a commitment to the community they serve that they will be open and transparent and that they will share the details of the partnership agreement with the public so that everyone can be sure that quality family planning, reproductive health services, and end-of-life care will be available at St. Vincent Hospital,” said Heather Brewer Executive Director of NARAL Pro Choice New Mexico. “We’re not saying this is a bad deal. We’re saying we need it in writing.”
Members of the coalition include: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, Southwest Women’s Law Center, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist – New Mexico Section, Compassion & Choices, Equality New Mexico, NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, Inc., New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, and The MergerWatch Project.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 15, 2008 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003 or Dan Berger, ACLU DLRP (917) 602-2445
CARLSBAD – According to a sworn affidavit filed yesterday by an Eddy County law enforcement official, the seizure of medical marijuana from a local paraplegic man, “was done at the direction of and under the guidance and control of the [Drug Enforcement Administration] DEA.”  The affidavit, submitted by David Edmondson, Commander of the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force, which conducted the seizure on September 4, 2007, makes clear that the federal government directed local law enforcement to seize the medical marijuana of a patient fully authorized to use the medicine under state law.
“This is yet another glaring example of the federal government’s improper obstruction of states’ ability to implement compassionate and sensible medical marijuana policies,” said Adam Wolf, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Drug Law Reform Project.  “For the DEA to co-opt local law enforcement in its misguided assault on medical marijuana patients is both callous and unconstitutional.”
On September 4, 2007, at least four Eddy County deputies, acting as members of the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force, arrived at the home of Leonard French in Malaga, New Mexico.  French, a paraplegic who experiences intense pain and severe muscle spasms stemming from 1987 motorcycle accident, holds a license issued by the state of New Mexico identifying him as a medical marijuana patient under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act.
Assuming that the deputies had arrived to check his compliance with the state compassionate use law, French presented the deputies with his identification card and showed them his hydroponic equipment, including two small marijuana plants and three dead sprouts.  Acting under the guidance of the DEA, according to yesterday’s affidavit, the deputies seized the equipment and plants and later turned them over to the federal agency.
The ACLU, which represents French in a pending legal challenge, says the seizure violated not only New Mexico’s Compassionate Use Act, but also state forfeiture laws and a constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.  French has not been charged with any violations of federal or state drug laws.
Yesterday’s affidavit is available online at: www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/medmarijuana/34141lgl20080214.html
The ACLU’s legal filing is available online at: www.aclu-nm.org/PDF/French_1_17_08.pdf

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Related Documents:

14-Feb-2008 Affidavit

17-Jan-2008 Press Release

French Complaint

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ACLU Drug Law Reform Project