Seperation of church and hospital?

October 24, 2005 12:40 PM

Why do American hospitals always have religious associations in their names, and does this distinction actually mean anything anymore?

Bonus question - Do hospitals in other countries follow the same naming convention?

posted by afroblanca to Health & Fitness (27 answers total)

I always thought that the people/organisations that pony up the money initially sponsored the hospitals got to name the things.

There are a few church-name-sounding hospitals in Vancouver, Canada, but there are also "Women's and Childrens" or "Vancouver General" or "Shaughnessy" in addition to "St. Paul's" &c.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 12:42 PM on October 24, 2005

Do you mean like "Swedish Covenant Hospital" or "St. Jude's"? If so, many of these hospitals were founded and run by religious denominations and/or specific religious orders. Many still are. So, it's more than just a naming convention.
posted by jeanmari at 12:45 PM on October 24, 2005

Religious organizations start them and usually own them though possibly they might sell them to a public entity or go secular. Another possible answer for some of these hospitals is that a hospital is named for a geographic area that is also a religious name.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:47 PM on October 24, 2005

We've got two here: "St. Mary's" and "Athens Regional".

St. Mary's is a Catholic-run hospital, and it's true that the church's dogma affect what goes on there. You wouldn't be able to go there for an elective abortion, for instance.

Athens Regional is the "public" hospital. It's not run by the government directly, but it has ties.

Like public vs. private universities, there are pros and cons of each. The distinction does indeed mean something, though it'd take a lot of space to outline exactly what.
posted by ewagoner at 12:50 PM on October 24, 2005

In my hometown of Charlottesville, Va, the two major hospitals were Martha Jefferson hospital and University of Virginia hospital (actually "Health Systems"). Not all hospitals are religiously affiliated.

The former was founded by civc minded physicians a hundred and two years ago and the other evolved from a medical college established by Thomas Jefferson in 1825.
posted by Atreides at 12:55 PM on October 24, 2005

Are you sure it's ALWAYS? Here is a rather reputable hospital that I can find no religious affiliation listed for. I'm sure there are others, such as the UPenn Medical Center, the University of Michigan Medical Center, etc etc.
posted by spicynuts at 12:58 PM on October 24, 2005

Go here for information about religious (affiliated) hospitals and the consequences, especially for access to reproductive healthcare. About 18% of hospital beds in the US now are in relgiously-affiliated hospitals (this has increased because of many mergers of healthcare providers).
posted by cushie at 1:00 PM on October 24, 2005

What "always"?? Norwalk Hospital. Downtown Beekman. Brigham & Women's. Children's. Hospital for Special Surgery. Westchester Medical Center. Ochsner Clinic. Kings County. Downstate Medical Center.

Nope, not always.
posted by scratch at 1:02 PM on October 24, 2005

Mayo Clinic
Hennepin County Medical Center
North Memorial
Regions Hospital
Mercy/Unity
...the first 5 local hospitals that came to my mind. Maybe it's just a Minnesota thing. I can't think of many hospitals that have religious-sounding names, aside from those mentioned in movies/TV.

Okay, maybe Mercy/Unity does sound a little Jesus-y...
posted by bhayes82 at 1:06 PM on October 24, 2005

As ewagoner points at w/ St. Mary's vs. Athens regional, one of the biggest differences is religious hospitals might not perform certain procedures, specifically in reference to birth-control (there are plenty of non-religious affiliated hospitals that also don't offer, but anyways). Also of a difference is the Chaplain you'll find, if that's important. At St. Mary's, you'll find nuns and sometimes the local Priest on duty who cater to religious needs (though they're generally good about respecting any religious affiliation) whereas Athens Regional's Chaplain will more than likely not be Catholic and will have gone through some kind of Divinity school.
posted by jmd82 at 1:16 PM on October 24, 2005

Yeah, it's far from always. In the San Francisco Bay Area, hospitals with "saint" in the name are a small minority, and there are none with names of religious groups in the name that I know of. (I don't know whether Mt. Zion should count -- it is a place name, albeit one loaded with religious significance.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 1:17 PM on October 24, 2005

I'd like to know where this perception of ALWAYS came from, actually. I mean, if you think of the most prestigious medical centers in the country, the only religiously affiliated one that comes immediately to mind is Columbia-Presbyterian in NYC.
posted by spicynuts at 1:17 PM on October 24, 2005

Response by poster: Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have put the "always" in there. I guess it's more like all the ones I could immediately think of had religiously-associated names.
posted by afroblanca at 1:19 PM on October 24, 2005

Bhayes, also in the Twin Cities area is Medhodist Hospital, it was the first that came to my mind.
posted by clgregor at 1:27 PM on October 24, 2005

A Mercy Hospital (of which there are many in various locations) likely was built by (and possibly still run by) the Sisters of Mercy. The term hospital derives from the monastic tradition of extending hospitality (including medical care) to pilgrims, as far back as the council of Nicea (325 AD), which provided for a hospital to be constructed in each diocese.
posted by PadrePuffin at 1:36 PM on October 24, 2005

Why do American hospitals always have religious associations in their names

Not accurate. For example, Boston/ Cambridge hospitals --

Boston Medical Center
Boston University Medical Center
Brigham and Women's
Brockton Hospital
Children's Hospital
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Faulkner Hospital
Floating Hospital for Children
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Lemuel Shattuck Hospital
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Associates
Massachusetts General Hospital
Mount Auburn Hospital
New England Medical Center
Partners Healthcare System
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

posted by ericb at 1:36 PM on October 24, 2005

Response by poster: Okay, okay, I get it. Can we go back to addressing the meat of the question now?
posted by afroblanca at 1:50 PM on October 24, 2005

I grew up not even really knowing there were public hospitals - both of the hospitals in my hometown are religious. One is Catholic (St. Mary's) and the other is Adventist (Walla Walla General).

While there are a lot with religious names (Sacred Heart), there's also a lot without religious names (Harbor View).
posted by Amanda B at 2:09 PM on October 24, 2005

Zed_Lopez: In the San Francisco Bay Area, hospitals with "saint" in the name are a small minority, and there are none with names of religious groups in the name that I know of.

Well, up until 1991, there was Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center, which at that time merged with Children's Hospital to form the California Pacific Medical Center. But yeah, in general, I can think of at least as many hospitals with non-religious names as with religious ones.
posted by trip and a half at 2:17 PM on October 24, 2005

Some of the Jewish-affiliated hospitals (examples of which include Mount Sinai [in New York], Barnes-Jewish, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Jewish Hospital at Wash. U., Jewish General Hospital, Beth Israel Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai [in LA], etc.) continued with that vague religious-assocation/naming because they also had medical schools attached to them that would accept Jewish med students. That was not the norm; until the late 1960's, lots of other medical schools wouldn't accept Jews, or would impose big quotas to keep the numbers down. In fact, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York was founded in the mid-1950's specifically to provide a non-discriminatory med school opportunity for Jewish students.

I'm not saying the hospitals existed solely to keep the med schools open, or vice versa, but the hospitals certainly benefited from them, because they would end up with a good-sized crop of newly-minted doctors, and the med schools benefited, because they got access to a talented student pool who were barred from going elsewhere. Albert Einstein, for example, is now ranked the #23 med school in the nation (not bad for a 50-year-old school) and is now associated with several Jewish-affiliated hospitals in New York and Long Island--hospitals which are also among the best of the nation. So it was kind of a good symbiotic arrangement for everyone involved.
posted by Asparagirl at 2:53 PM on October 24, 2005

interesting info, Asparagirl -- thanks!
posted by scody at 3:55 PM on October 24, 2005

The simple answer has already been alluded to: most hospitals with a religious name had religious origins. The model is an order of nuns which chooses health care as its service mission. (Some chose education, some health care.)

The other way that hospitals have been established, particularly in rural areas, is to have the county government set them up. Very often, these have a "memorial" in the name, in my part of the country.
posted by megatherium at 4:19 PM on October 24, 2005

When in college I was an orderly at Sheltering Arms hospital in Athens, Ohio. Born of necessity by joining two houses together,hospital beds were $18/day, doctors were humble and cheap. I could afford the hospital bills for baby delivery on $3.50/hour without insurance. There was spirit of love between patient and staff. Healing and the best part of religion are kin. Names of hospitals reflected this. My mother trained at Grace Hospital in Detroit.
"The famous Hippocratic Oath, sworn by medical doctors for two thousand years, begins with an invocation to Apollo the physician, Asclepius, Hygieia, Panacea and "the other gods and goddesses."
About 1971 the city built a new hospital to replace Sheltering Arms, made possible by rich man named O'Bleness. The new hospital, O'Bleness Memorial, was modern in every way. Hospital beds were now $100/day, and moving to the new hospital as an employee, the spirit changed. I was witness to a shift from generosity and grace to something more about efficiency and money. The name change said it all.
posted by JohnR at 5:21 PM on October 24, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks all for the answers. AskMeFi rocks!
posted by afroblanca at 5:59 PM on October 24, 2005

I think it depends on where you live, how old the community is and how religious people were 100 years or so ago. In St. Louis our hospitals are: Barnes-Jewish, St. Mary's, St. Johns, Missouri Baptist, St. Lukes, Cardinal Glennon... and on and on. Being a very old town and very catholic means most of the hospitals have that catholic heritage. (It also means all the towns do too - St. Louis, St. Peters, St. Charles, St. Ann, St. John, St. Andrews - are just a few of the towns are around here.)
I guess the simple answer is: most hospitals founded more than fifty years ago were founded by religious organizations, as they were among the only large organizations with philanthropic missions interested in starting a generally money losing organization like a hospital.
Other places I've lived, that are younger or have less of a religious background, did not share that trait.
posted by muddylemon at 11:26 PM on October 24, 2005

From a UK perspective: seems to be mostly secular names.
My local hospitals are Medway Maritime, Sittingbourne Memorial and Darent Valley. I was born in Mill Road and visited Alder Hey several times as a child. My partner spent a while in Great Ormond Street. Actually, the only 'religiously named' ones I can think of are St Thomas', and Bart's and the London which I think is officially St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospitals or something.

Tangent: most schools where I grew up were named for saints. St Anne's (twice), St Julie's, St Hilda's, and many variations on St John.
posted by corvine at 5:24 AM on October 25, 2005

Response by poster: muddylemon, you hit the nail on the head. I'm actually from St. Louis. Now I'm in NYC, which seems to have quite a few of them as well.
posted by afroblanca at 6:59 PM on October 25, 2005