Bishop Alvaro Corrada of Tyler, Texas has released a statement saying that he investigated allegations that sterilizations had been performed in hospitals in his diocese, and found serious problems.
"Initially both Catholic hospitals in the Diocese of Tyler responded that they were in compliance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Services. Sadly, subsequent investigation reveals that there had been a serious mis-interpretation of the ERDs and that in fact many direct sterilizations had been done and continued to be done at the time of the article. As a Bishop, I am deeply saddened and upset by this news. As Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, I have to admit my failure to provide adequate oversight of the Catholic Hospitals as regards their protection of the sacred dignity of each human person," he said.
News of the sterilizations was first reported by Our Sunday Visitor in our July 13 issue. A months-long investigation by us found that 23 Catholic hospitals in Texas performed some 10,000 sterilizations between 2000 and 20003. The Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler was the worst offenders according to the data, with some 1,619 sterilizations recorded.
Bishop Corrada's statement suggested that the hospital was still working to rid itself of the problem. "Trinity Mother Frances is a large health care system and is developing plans to protect the sacred dignity of each human person through compliance with an authentic interpretation of the ERDs, particularly ERD 53 which prohibits direct sterilization," he said.
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