American Catholic Hospitals - (Critical Issues in Health and Medicine) by Barbra Mann Wall (Paperback)

About the Book

In American Catholic Hospitals, Barbra Mann Wall chronicles changes in Catholic hospitals during the twentieth century. Wall explores the Church's struggle to safeguard its religious values. As hospital leaders reacted to increased political, economic, and societal secularization, they extended their religious principles in the areas of universal health care and adherence to the Ethical and Religious Values in Catholic Hospitals, leading to tensions between the Church, government, and society. Wall undertakes unprecedented analyses of the gendered politics of post-Second Vatican Council Catholic hospitals, as well as the effect of social movements on the practice of medicine.

Book Synopsis

In American Catholic Hospitals, Barbra Mann Wall chronicles changes in Catholic hospitals during the twentieth century, many of which are emblematic of trends in the American healthcare system.

Wall explores the Church's struggle to safeguard its religious values. As hospital leaders reacted to increased political, economic, and societal secularization, they extended their religious principles in the areas of universal health care and adherence to the Ethical and Religious Values in Catholic Hospitals, leading to tensions between the Church, government, and society. The book also examines the power of women--as administrators, Catholic sisters wielded significant authority--as well as the gender disparity in these institutions which came to be run, for the most part, by men. Wall also situates these critical transformations within the context of the changing Church policy during the 1960s. She undertakes unprecedented analyses of the gendered politics of post-Second Vatican Council Catholic hospitals, as well as the effect of social movements on the practice of medicine.

Review Quotes

"American Catholic Hospitals is fair, balanced, insightful, and intriguing. The story Wall tells--a story about a significant segment of the US health care system--is meticulously documented. Readers will find her study to be illuminating, even inspirational."
-- "Journal of the American Medical Association" (8/10/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"American Catholic Hospitals is meticulously researched and well written. Although it is certainly appropriate for both undergraduate and graduate students, general readers also will find it to be an excellent overview of the history of the changes that Catholic health-care institutions have undergone in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."
-- "Catholic Historical Review" (6/1/2014 12:00:00 AM)

"American Catholic Hospitals offers a tremendous amount of new material and refreshing perspectives on current health care system challenges in the United States."--Sioban Nelson "Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto" (7/29/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"In American Catholic Hospitals, Barbra Mann Wall traces the ways Catholic hospitals have accommodated changes both within the church and in society over the last century. Her book is well researched and a fascinating read."-- "Health Progress" (11/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"Wall presents a compelling and well-documented narrative of the dynamic transformation of Catholic hospitals in twentieth-century America. Drawing on records from Catholic congregations throughout the United States, she reveals an admirable perseverance of religious caregivers, demonstrated by their willingness to adapt to socioeconomic forces often inimical to charitable care."
-- "American Catholic Studies" (12/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"Wall provides solid scholarship and engaging insight into the historic and contemporary contributions of American Catholic hospitals and their ability to adapt and serve amid the changing landscapes of church and state, culture wars, and healthcare reforms of the 20th century."
--Carol K. Coburn "Spirited Lives: How Nuns Shaped Catholic Culture and American Life, 1836-1920" (1/1/2099 12:00:00 AM)

"Wall traces the nursing and management roles of nuns and brothers in church-related US health care institutions. This well-documented volume will be a useful addition for collections supporting academic programs in public health, hospital administration, bioethics, and divinity, and for comprehensive collections in the history of medicine. Recommended."
-- "Choice" (9/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

BARBRA MANN WALL is the Thomas A. Saunders III Professor in Nursing at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. Her book Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Catholic Sisters and the Hospital Marketplace, won the 2006 Lavinia Dock Award for Best Book, American Association for the History of Nursing.