How could they do this

[emmie]

Catholic or no they should have helped this poor woman

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...hern-ireland-20321741

[emmie]

i was listening to this on the news earlier, i wonder quite what this world is coming to..

[jake-the-peg]

Abortion in ireland is legal if the life of the mother is in danger

I don't believe there's any suggestion that they denied her an abortion knowing that her life was in danger.

I suspect that if there was evidence of that people would be in a lot of trouble and probably would be facing criminal charges

[emmie]

i read through this any number of times and still do not understand why they couldn't have helped.

"Abortion is illegal in the Republic except where there is a real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother"

[jake-the-peg]

I kind of take that back - it's a bit murkey

There is constitutional provision for it but no specific law

There is criticism that in practice it is difficult even in these situations - however the Irish Government say:

//The Government is satisfied that any medical treatment necessary to safeguard a woman’s life during pregnancy is available in Ireland. It has no plans to bring forward further constitutional or legislative proposals in relation to abortion.//

It will be interesting to see whether this case prompts any further action

http://www.abortionin...e-republic-of-ireland

[emmie]

it still reads as though they didn't help because of their stance on abortion, if proven they were negligent, though it won't bring his wife back, i hope he sues them. It's an appalling story whichever way you look at this. Read down the BBC piece as well about the rape victim.

[2sp_]

Tragic news. Disgraceful that it should have happened in this day and age.

[emmie]

yes it is.

[jake-the-peg]

There's a fuller story here:

http://www.irishtimes...14/1224326575203.html

If this is true and the consultant said "While there's a foetal heartbeat we can't do anything" and their actions substantiate that, it sounds as if the Irish Government's statement that I quoted above needs reconsideration.

Some clarification of if from them I think is the very least that is needed here

[emmie]

but surely their duty would be to save her, the baby was 17 weeks i think, not likely to survive..

[ichkeria]

What would happen in Britain in such a situation? i.e. someone asked to be induced. Obviously no one would refuse on the grounds of it being a "Catholic country" (which seems a strange way of putting it - the fact is that is the law, even if it should not be).
Someone would presumably have made a decision based on the assessed health of the woman and maybe also the age of the foetus. Perhaps that also happened in this case and things have been coloured by the rather outrageous initial comment about a "Catholic country". Hopefully an inquiry will find that out.
Thanks heavens tho' for the EHCR which will hopefully soon force the Irish Government to rule on this issue and change the law.

[Duncer]

If they said, "This is a Catholic country" and used that trite nonsense as a reason to deny the abortion then they are narrow minded little bigots. They can be Catholics all they want but they cannot inflict that upon others.

[ichkeria]

ECHR that is :-)

[emmie]

it wouldn't have happened surely if she had been here in England. I don't know of any hospital who would have refused to help on religious grounds

[LazyGun]

Some comments in R/S on this subject too. Obviously further information is required, but on the face of it, a woman lost her life because of a refusal to induce in a life- threatening situation for the mother, either because of the religious convictions of those treating her, or out of fear that they might be breaking the law - a lack of clarity or bureaucratic footdragging.

Whatever the reasons, it is a tragic case.

[emmie]

that was from the BBC report but i have read the same thing in any number of papers..

[jno]

I would have thought it highly unlikely that a doctor said "I won't do this because I'm a Catholic/the country's Catholic."

Doctors do however have to obey the law and this is probably what happened here. It may be that their understanding of the law is different from the government's. Somebody needs to clear that up quickly.

[ichkeria]

Indeed j-t-p. It seems barking mad to refuse to abort a foetus which one has established is being miscarried.

[emmie]

i also remember reading some years ago the statistics on Irish women who have had abortions in England, time they got out of the dark ages..

[ichkeria]

I don't think she was refused help on religious grounds, but on legal grounds (and whether Catholic, Hindu Protestant or Jew the law would apply to all) Either way it does sound like a major dereliction, not least the remark, if it was made.

[emmie]

it says the same thing here

http://www.guardian.c...fter-abortion-refusal