Title:  AMER Aids Wiccan in Hospital Incident

From:   AMER Intelligence

The Official Journal of the Alliance for Magical and Earth
Religions, Volume 1, Number 1.

copyright 1991 by AMER and the respective authors.  All rights
reserved.  (Permission to reprint has been granted by AMER.)


Gina Alley, a Wiccan priestess, was recently subjected to
harassment and denied a pastoral visit at the Magaret R. Parde
Hospital in Hendersonville, North Carolina.  Ms. Alley was
seriously injured in an automobile accident.  Upon admission to
the hospital, Ms. Alley was asked what her religion was.  When a
nurse who was supposed to be caring for Ms. Alley learned that
she was a Wiccan, she began to make unfavorable remarks to her
about her faith.  These direct remarks were followed up by a
phone call in which the nurse told Ms. Alley that her auto
accident would not have happened to her if she had taken Jesus
Christ as her personal savior.  Ms. Alley's parents, who were not
previously aware of her religion, demanded that the nurse in
question be moved to another station.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.  Ms. Alley was
upset by her accident, by the shock of confronting her parents
with her religion, and by the nurse's unkind remarks.  She called
Mr. and Mrs. Clardy, a priest and priestess of Ravenscry Temple,
and asked for a pastoral visit.

When Mr. Clardy called Margaret R. Parde Hospital and spoke to a
nursing supervisor about visiting Gina Alley, no mention was made
of a hospital policy which forbids patients who are not in
critical condition from receiving visits of any kind, pastoral or
otherwise, outside of visiting hours.  Mr. Clardy represented
himself as a local minister who wished to visit a member of his
congregation who was in the hospital and who had begged for
pastoral counseling.  When the nursing supervisor heard this, she
said that she would have a security guard meet Mr. Clardy at the
emergency room entrance an escort him to the patient. 
Unfortunately, when the supervisor asked Mr. Clardy what patient
he wished to visit and what his denomination was, her tune
changed.  She put Mr. Clardy on hold, and then returned, claiming
that she had visited Gina, that the patient was not in distress
and did not need to see her priest.  She denied him permission to
visit until visiting hours the next day.

AMER originally learned of this incident from a Wiccan/Pagan
Press Alliance news release.  When we followed up by calling the
hospital, the Clardy's and Lord Ariel of Ravenscry Temple for
confirmation, we discovered that the Margaret R. Parde Hospital
was attempting to cover up the incident.  Although the nurse in
question was no longer "on the floor", we couldn't learn whether
she has otherwise been disciplined.

The hospital claims that the offensive phone call was anonymous,
and may not have been made by a member of their staff.  They also
claim that their policy regarding visiting hours is equitably
enforced, although the Mr. Clardy's story clearly indicates that
he would have been admitted had he been a Christian minister. 
The hospital says it has recently reminded its staff that
Margaret R. Parde is a non-denominational institution, that the
religious beliefs of patients are confidential, and that all
patients are to be treated in the same manner.  We hope that the
hospital continues to educate its staff in appropriate behavior,
and that some disciplinary action will e taken toward the nurse
in question.

/end of article/
