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S/O Christmas "War"
How the "Christ" in Christmas is being attacked reminded me of a problem my mom had, and I am wondering how to approach the hospital about it.
Last month, My mom had her appendix fail and she had to go through a major surgery to remove it. Because my mom is over 50 they wanted to know her religious background in case she passes during it. My mom is a Wiccan, but due to people's reactions, mostly trying to convert her, she says agnostic. That wasn't good enough for them, and after a few minutes of pestering she said Wiccan. That wasn't good enough either. They wouldn't leave her alone about it, and after fifteen minutes, she told them she refused to change her religion to what made them feel good about it. They left and she felt treated rudely from there on until she left the hospital.
When she told me after she was released and I laughed it off, but it really angered her that she couldn't even get through a semi-common surgery without having someone try to convert her to Christian. She wants to talk to the hospital about it but she and I have no idea where to start.
Re: S/O Christmas "War"
I have never had an issue when i say agnostic in hospitals for me or my kids
she should file a complaint
I don't know who exactly you would file a complaint with, but I definitely think that you should do it. That's really crappy.
I can't believe they would push her on such an issue. The truth is those are optional questions and she shouldn't have felt obligated to answer at all if she didn't feel comfortable doing so.
Definitely file a complaint with their patient advocate services. If you or she has a bill there should be a number on it to get to someone through customer service. You'll have to wade through the bull that is CS, but once you get in touch with the right folks you can file the complaint.
No one should be feeling like they are forced to convert. Conversion to any religion should always be completely voluntary, IMHO. I know that it seems like it should go without saying, but even the altruistic reasons (I converted to get married, or because I was afraid of hell) aren't really the best reasons to convert. A person should want to convert to learn about the religion and feels that its right in their heart.
I think a lot of folks have misconceptions about Wicca and other pagan religions. I am not an expert, but I have many friends that freely explain their pagan things to me. It is always interesting to me to learn about different belief systems, & I have no idea why some Christians get so up in arms about it.
It was Kaiser.
I have to call my mom and find out if she has gotten a bill yet for it. Thank you for the idea Betty, I didn't even know where to start with. I think I am going to keep wading through robots and idiots until I get a hold of their complaint department.
Check us out
Usual lurker here, and another Pagan. This is why so many of us are in the "broom closet." Blah. It stinks. And yes, the "Jesus is the reason for the season" statements on FB and the billboards here in the Bible Belt make me aggravated, but if they don't know history, there isn't much I can do to educate the ignorant muggles. :-)
I'm sorry, where was the part exactly where someone tried to convert her to Christianity? What were the exact words that were used?
I have a lot of experience with Kaiser and they have signs all over the place and in every room that inform patients of how to contact an advocate directly if they have an issue with the care they are receiving. I think your mom is being a whiny heifer.
Also, I don't know why this makes me think of when you try to give a P.O. Box as your address and that's not sufficient -- they need a physical address, hahaha.