The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the resolution of a religious discrimination complaint against Prince George’s Hospital Center of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) after UMMS adopted new policies ensuring clergy access to patients for religious purposes during the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, OCR’s Conscience and Religious Freedom Division received a complaint from Susanna Marcus, alleging she had requested a visit from a priest for her critically injured husband, Sidney Marcus, which was denied by Prince George’s Hospital Center.
In late May 2020, Susanna and Sidney Marcus were in a major car accident requiring an emergency medevac to Prince George’s Hospital Center. Because Sidney’s injuries were more serious, the couple was separated and Sidney was placed in the intensive care unit. Since Sidney’s health continued to decline, Susanna Marcus asked a local priest to visit and pray for Sidney at the hospital. Despite being willing to wear any necessary personal protective equipment, the priest was turned away by the hospital based on a visitor exclusion policy it had adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acting in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), OCR provided technical assistance to UMMS, which oversees Prince George’s Hospital Center, based on CMS guidance – PDF concerning hospital visitations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance provides that “facilities must ensure patients have adequate and lawful access to chaplains or clergy.”
