For over two centuries, the Daughters of Charity, a community of Catholic sisters whose principal occupation was to serve the sick poor, significantly contributed to the formation and development of U.S. hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Donning their large white-winged cornettes, the Daughters served the sick poor during wars and epidemics and founded over fifty hospitals throughout the country. The Daughters of Charity and the Making of the U.S. Healthcare Industry traces their exploits from the beginning of their U.S. healthcare ministry in 1823 to the transfer of their large hospital network to a lay-sponsored entity in 2012. Throughout its history, this religious order experienced several important changes and milestones in medicine and American society: the introduction of germ theory, the rise of the health professions, several waves of Catholic immigrants, economic recessions, the expansion of the federal government into the healthcare arena (Medicare and Medicaid), racial segregation, cost containment, competition, and many medical innovations. This book recounts how the Daughters overcame challenges to the ownership and operation of their hospitals, how they employed certain features of their French heritage and the U.S. legal system to forge a vast hospital network while facing resistance from clergy, doctors, and government officials and prejudice against women and Catholics. With this contribution, Carl F. Ameringer offers to his readers a better understanding of the extent of the Daughters' accomplishments, of what Americans lost when their numbers diminished, and what we must do to sustain their efforts.
Carl F. Ameringer is a former Maryland assistant attorney general and professor of health policy and politics at three different universities. He is the author of several books, most recently US Health Policy and Health Care Delivery: Doctors, Reformers, and Entrepreneurs.
List of Illustrations List of Tables Preface List of Abbreviations List of Featured Hospitals Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Hospital, a Place They Could Call Their Own 2. Immigration, Epidemics, Anti-Catholicism, and Slavery 3. Wartime Service 4. Daughters, Doctors, and Outpatient Clinics 5. "More Active, Vocal, and Visible" 6. Reconciling Divisions Over Access to Reproductive Services 7. "Time to Leave" Appendix: Chronological List of Mother Superiors and Visitatrixes Notes Note on Archival Sources Bibliography Index
"Ameringer's work on the hospital ministry conducted by the Daughters of Charity for over two centuries expertly places their work within the larger story of the history of health care in the United States. This meticulously researched book is a welcome addition to the growing body of work detailing the many ways in which religious congregations developed ministries dedicated to serving those in need." -Margaret M. McGuinness, author of Called to Serve "This book intriguingly relates the history of Catholic hospitals through the lens of the Daughters of Charity, specifically linking their healthcare apostolate to key contextual forces at play. Ameringer's book is quite timely in light of recent Supreme Court decisions, debates over religious freedom, and the criticisms of Catholic hospitals over abortion and reproductive procedures." -Barbra Mann Wall, author of American Catholic Hospitals
