Cavan hospital would qualify for terminations – Bill
Cavan General Hospital could function as a primary facility at which women locally could be assessed for a termination in pregnancy, according to the heads of the Bill debated earlier this month by committee in the Dáil.
Under the proposed Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013, terminations in pregnancy will only be allowed in health care facilities providing both obstetric and mental health services, and where relevant specialists are attached. This is so that the process can be duly monitored and investigated on site and at the same facility should the need arise.
Cavan General Hospital currently includes facilities for psychiatric and mental health services, as well as obstetrics and gynaecology on site and, as such, would appear to satisfy those criteria.
Final decision to be determined nationally - HSE
Though in a statement to The Anglo-Celt, the hospital stated that as the location of specialists sites for such procedures will be determined nationally, “we will have to await the detail of the final legislation in this regard.”
The Bill currently states: “One of the two medical practitioners involved in the certification process will always be an obstetrician/gynaecologist and the other will be a medical practitioner in a speciality relevant to the risk to the life of the woman, eg oncologist, cardiologist, etc.” It goes on to say the test requires a clinical diagnosis in relation to the risk to the life of the pregnant woman and a foetal assessment, “therefore the expertise of an obstetrician will always be required.”
A termination will, meanwhile, most likely be carried out by, or under the care of, an obstetrician or gynaecologist, and therefore their inclusion is also deemed central in accessing any services to ensuring patient safety.
However, the Bill also gives way in that in emergency situations, saying doctors should not be prevented from saving a woman’s life in a situation of acute emergency, because, for example, the required numbers of doctors are not available or the woman arrives at a non-appropriate health facility.
The overall process requires an assessment on medical grounds to determine if the test set out in the Supreme Court judgement in the X case is met. The Supreme Court held that a termination is permissible if, “as a matter of probability”, there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, or this risk can only be averted by the termination of her pregnancy.
This decision to perform a termination is to be formed with “reasonable opinion” the Bill states, by which it must be formed in good faith and with regard to the need to protect the right to life of the unborn also.