Lead doctor sues his own Catholic hospital operator over abortion ban
A lead doctor has filed a lawsuit against his Catholic hospital operator after being prohibited from performing prenatal infanticide. Joachim Volz, the doctor, believes the merger of the two Lippstadt hospitals restricts his medical practice and is therefore waging a legal battle against Catholic guidelines in medical care. Volz had performed abortions under the Protestant hospital's sponsorship. Previously, the Protestant hospital had performed around 15 prenatal infanticides annually. Merger led to abortion ban The controversy arose from the merger of the Evangelical Hospital Lippstadt with the Catholic Trinity Hospital to form the "Lippstadt Hospital – Christian Hospital," with approximately 2,500 employees. From an economic perspective, the merger was necessary to secure long-term healthcare in the region. A prerequisite for the merger negotiations for the Catholic side was that abortions would no longer be permitted from February 1, 2025 – even for medical indication...