According to Fox News, a February inspection at St. Francis Hospital South revealed a solitary candle’s flame as the culprit. Deeming it a safety hazard, the Joint Commission threatened to remove the St. Francis Health System’s ability to accept Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
As an independent accrediting organization, the Joint Commission works with Health and Human Services (HHS) affiliated Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to present inspection findings.
The St. Francis Health System is the 12th largest hospital in the United States, employing 11,000 people and serving 400,000 patients annually. The system has provided over $650 million in free health care to those in need in the past five years.
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A spokesperson from HHS said it is aware of “a safety finding involving a fire risk, made by an independent accrediting organization, issued to a hospital in Oklahoma” and that “CMS is working with the hospital’s accrediting organization to develop options to mitigate the potential fire risk and remove the safety finding.”
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St. Francis Executive VP and CEO Barry Steichen told Fox News Digital:
“Over 60 years ago, St. Francis was founded by William K. and Natalie Warren as an act of gratitude and service to God and [to] the people of Oklahoma. The cornerstone of Saint Francis is love for God and man. To this day, the Saint Francis torch insignia indicates a space of hope: [a place] where the medical and spiritual stand [as] one. We’re [being] asked to choose between serving those in need and worshiping God in the chapel, but they go hand-in-hand.”
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Steichen added:
“To share a quotation of Saint Francis Xavier that is familiar to many Saint Francis staff, ‘it is not the actual physical exertion that counts towards one’s progress, nor the nature of the task, but by the spirit of faith with which it [is] undertaken.’ Our work depends upon our faith in the living God, and the sanctuary candle represents this to us.”
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According to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the hospital has asked four times for a waiver as there are similar flames that are not a problem, like pilot lights.
Yetter Coleman LLP law firm and the Becket Fund sent a letter to HHS after the inspection. Becket VP and senior counsel Lori Windham told Fox News Digital, “The government has a simple choice: either stop this attack on St. Francis’s faith or expect a legal firestorm.”
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