The Irish Times reports today August 7th that Fr
Kevin Doran a member of the Mater Hospital Board has said the Mater hospital in
Dublin “cannot comply” with the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act and
cannot carry out abortions.
Fr Kevin Doran was speaking to The Irish Times as the board
prepares to meet in the coming weeks to discuss how or whether the hospital
will abide by the legislation.
The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital is one of 25
“appropriate institutions” named in the Act where abortions may be carried out
to save the life of a pregnant woman.
Mission statement
A Catholic voluntary hospital, part-owned by the Sisters of
Mercy who founded it in 1861, the Mater is managed by the board of governors
independent of the HSE.
In its mission statement, the hospital says that by caring
for the sick, “we participate in the healing ministry of Jesus Christ”.
Fr Doran, who sits on the board of governors and the board
of directors of the Mater, said it was “incumbent on the hospital to consider
its position on the Act . . . The Mater can’t carry out abortions because it
goes against its ethos. I would be very concerned that the Minister [for
Health, James Reilly] sees fit to make it impossible for hospitals to have
their own ethos.
“The issue is broader than just abortion. What’s happening
is the Minister is saying hospitals are not entitled to have an ethos.”
Serious discussion
Asked his view of what should happen if the board were to
decide it would comply with the legislation, Fr Doran said: “I suppose I can
assume there would be very serious discussion between the Archbishop [of Dublin
Dr Diarmuid Martin] and the management of the hospital.”
Sr. Eugene Nolan, nurse tutor and member of the board of
directors, described the situation facing the hospital as “very, very grave”,
adding the legislation “is being imposed on us.
“It is against our ethos. The main thing is we have an
obligation to preserve the ethos of the hospital and still try and do the best
we can. [The legislation] will have to be looked at very carefully.”
A spokesman for the hospital said it had no formal position
as yet on the legislation. “It is going to be discussed by the board of
governors in the coming weeks.”
Single-member company
The Mater hospital is a single-member company. Its parent
company is the Mater Misericordiae and the Children’s University Hospitals
(Temple St) Ltd.
Its website says the majority of the members of the parent
company are Sisters of Mercy and the remaining members represent the Catholic
Archdiocese of Dublin, the Catholic Nurses’ Guild of Ireland, the Society of St
Vincent de Paul and the medical consultants of Mater Misericordiae University
Hospital and the Children’s University Hospital.
St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, is also a Catholic
voluntary hospital, part- owned and part-managed by the Sisters of Charity. It
is also named in the legislation as an “appropriate institution” to perform
abortions.
Its mission, says the hospital website, is to provide care
and treatment “through the continuance and furtherance of the ethos, aims and
purposes of the Congregation of the Religious Sisters of Charity”.
A spokesman for St Vincent’s Healthcare Group said it would
“as always, be following the law of the land”.
