A Catholic-run hospital in Oklahoma is locking horns with the Biden administration over an order that it extinguish a candle in its chapel or else lose its federal reimbursements for Medicare and Medicare.
Attorneys for Saint Francis Hospital South in Tulsa point out that a candle, which represents the presence of Christ, has burned continuously in the chapel for 63 years with the approval of state fire officials.
But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is adamant in enforcing its requirement that open flames in hospitals be “supervised at all times.”
“In requiring Saint Francis to extinguish its flame, you are trying to extinguish not just a candle, but the First Amendment rights of Saint Francis Health System, as well as vital healthcare for the elderly, poor, and disabled in Oklahoma,” attorney Lori Widham of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said May 2 in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and other officials.
Without accreditation, the 96-bed nonprofit community hospital would lose funding, which “would abruptly and immediately jeopardize its services to the elderly, disabled, and low-income patients” who rely on the federal funds, said Ms. Widham, whose nonprofit legal group is representing the hospital.
The Saint Francis Health System provides about 11,000 jobs and cares for more than 400,000 patients in its five eastern Oklahoma hospitals, the attorney said.
The church’s rules require “a special lamp, fueled by oil or wax, should shine prominently to indicate the presence of Christ and honor it,” and that the use of “so-called electric vigil lights” is not permitted under guidelines issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Advocates say the candle is located far from medical equipment and patients and is shielded by two glass holders. It stands in a brass basin attached to a wall.
A CMS official warned the hospital’s attorney on April 20 that the facility does not qualify for a waiver of accreditation rules because of the open, unsupervised flame. Public Health Service Capt. Scott J. Cooper said the flame is a hazard, citing an inspection report from The Joint Commission, a hospital accrediting body.
A Joint Commission surveyor visited the hospital Feb. 21, expressly asked to see the chapel candle and cited it as a “moderate” safety risk, hospital attorneys said.
Spokespersons at CMS and The Joint Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Barry Steichen, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Saint Francis, said the hospital is “being asked to choose between serving those in need and worshipping God in the chapel, but they go hand in hand.”
Ms. Widham said the candle-dousing order “is a blatant violation” of the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.