Previous abortion a factor in young mother's death

It has emerged that the tragic death of Ms Bimbo Onanuga in 2010 was most likely caused by an earlier abortion. See RTE report

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell in delivering a ruling of death by medical misadventure in the case of Ms Onanuga, who died at the Mater Hospital in 2010 after being transferred there from the Rotunda Hospital, found that a principal risk factor in her death was a pre-existing scar caused by an earlier abortion, along with the use of misoprostol, which had caused her uterus to contract.

Irish Medicines Board Director of Scientific Affairs, Dr J M Morris in his evidence to the Court said that misoprostal was not approved for use to induce labour. Such use is called off-label and is done on the responsibility of the doctor who gives it.

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell found that a principal risk factor in the death of Ms Bimbo Onanuga was a pre-existing scar caused by an earlier abortion, along with the use of misoprostol, which had caused the uterus to contract.

The inquest heard that Ms Onanuga’s uterus had ruptured, and her baby had delivered through a rupture, into the abdominal cavity. The inquest also heard that the postmortem found that the site of the rupture had been weakened by scarring caused by an earlier abortion.

Dr Sam Coulter-Smith, Master of the Rotunda, told the inquest that it was “probably reasonably safe to assume” that the scarring had been caused during a previous abortion, when Ms Onanuga's womb had been perforated, and that this predisposed her to rupture.  He also said that it was an "unrecognised perforation" and that the Rotunda had no information that any complication had occurred during the abortion.

Dr Sean Ó Domhnaill commenting on the case on behalf of the Life Institute offered his sympathies to Ms Onanuga's family and said that the media would be doing a “huge disservice to women if they ignored the central fact in the case - that scarring from an earlier abortion had led to this women's tragic death."

Dr O’ Domhnaill  said that the case showed that abortion clinics posed a real and substantial risk to women's lives, and that abortionists were all too often "substandard practitioners who caused physical harm to women and did not even bother to report it". 

"Clearly, the Rotunda were made aware of the earlier abortion, but not of the complication - the perforation to the womb - which caused the scarring. The question is: did Ms Onanuga even know about the injury caused to her by the abortionist? Is this yet another case of abortion malpractice where women die?" he asked.

Fr Kevin Doran resigns from Mater Hospital board following its statement on compliance with abortion legislation

The Irish Catholic reports today that Father Kevin Doran has resigned from the board of the Mater Hospital following its decision to comply with the government’s new abortion legislation and that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is to seek clarification from the Mater Hospital on the exact meaning of their statement. (See previous report on the Mater Hospital statement.)

The Journal also reports as follows;

A PRIEST HAS resigned from the board of the Mater Hospital in Dublin following its decision to say it will comply with the government’s abortion legislation when it comes into effect.

Prominent Dublin priest Father Kevin Doran has told The Irish Catholic that he cannot reconcile his own conscience with a statement from the hospital last week that it will comply with the law.

“Largely because I feel a Catholic hospital has to bear witness,” he told the paper. “It’s about bearing witness to Gospel values alongside providing excellent care.”

Doran’s resignation from the Mater Hospital Board and Board of Governors comes ahead of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013 coming into force, though this may not happen until next year as this website reported last week.

The Act will allow for abortions in cases where there is a risk to the life of a woman as a result of her pregnancy, including risk of suicide. It was passed and signed into law over the summer after lengthy debate in the Dáil, Seanad and wider society.

Meanwhile, The Irish Catholic also reports that that the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, is to see clarification from the hospital on the “exact meaning” of the statement from the Mater last week.

A spokeswoman told the paper: “He [Martin] believes the hospital has always been ‘scrupulous’ in trying to defend both the life of mother and the unborn child and the hospital has a great tradition of caring for very difficult pregnancies and doing it well within the ethos of the hospital over many years.

“He will seek further clarification on the exact meaning of the hospital’s statement issued last week.”

Catholic Mater Hospital to comply with new abortion law

The Journal reported Wednesday, September 25^th, that Dublin’s Mater Hospital has issued a statement to say it will comply with the laws provided for the in the new Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. If anyone was in any doubt about the implications of the new law on abortion and how it will be implemented this statement by Mater Hospital should ring warning bells.

The Journal article reads;

Following ‘careful consideration’ of the new legislation, the hospital said its priority is to be at the “frontier of compassion, concern and clinical care for all our patients”.

“Having regard to that duty the hospital will comply with the law as provided for in the act,” it concluded in the brief note.

The article continues, (C) concerns had been raised last month when one of the members of the hospital’s board of governors and board of directors told the Irish Times that the Mater could not comply with the laws.

“The Mater can’t carry out abortions because it goes against its ethos,” Fr Kevin Doran said. “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 Mater is one of 25 ‘appropriate institutions’ named in the act where legal terminations can take place when a woman’s life is in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health has said the Act has still not commenced.

So what happened? What has caused this change of heart?  One has to ask, did Minister for Health James Reilly or one of his minions, see fit, as Fr Kevin Doran feared, to make it impossible for this Catholic Hospital, and by extension every Catholic Hospital, to have their own ethos?

This actually begs further questions. Are we now living in a dictatorship and a very anti Catholic one at that? Are we entering into a new phase of penal laws, this time not imposed by a foreign power but by our own people?

I have news for James Reilly and for Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Our sons and daughters are precious human beings, our own flesh and blood. We will not permit you to take their lives for any reason let alone the imposition of an ideology or the dictates of our European masters. We will not bow down to your tyranny, we will resist in every possible, lawful, way and ‘we shall overcome some day’. We will work to change your unjust laws but we shall do so justly. Truth always prevails in the end

Doctor’s right to object to abortions is “not absolute” – Department of Health

The Journal reported Friday August 9^th that according to a statement by the Department of Health the rights of medical personnel to object to carrying out abortions must not interfere with the wellbeing of a patient.

The Journal article continues:

This week a member of the board of the Mater Hospital, Fr Kevin Doran, said that the hospital “can’t carry out abortions because it goes against our ethos”.  He was echoed by fellow board member, and a nurse tutor at the hospital, Sr Eugene Nolan.

Sr Nolan said that the situation facing the hospital was “very, very grave”. The Mater is listed as one of 25 appropriate institutions named in the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act where abortions may be carried out in order to save the lives of pregnant women.

‘No provision for institutional objection’

Yesterday, there was a suggestion that the Mater may be able to refuse to carry out a termination due a late removal of a line in the act that stated no institution could refuse to carry out a termination.

That, however was denied by a Department of Health spokesperson who spoke to TheJournal.ie today.

“The Act does not provide for conscientious objection by institutions.

“Section 17 of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 clarifies that professional health personnel (medical and nursing personnel) with a conscientious objection will not be obliged to carry out or assist in carrying out lawful terminations of pregnancy, unless the risk to the life of the pregnant woman is immediate, i.e. in an emergency situation.

However, an individual’s right to conscientious objection is not absolute and must be balanced against the patient’s competing rights, particularly the right to life in the case of a medical emergency.

“In such cases where a doctor or other health professional has a conscientious objection to undertaking a required medical procedure, he or she will have a duty to ensure that another colleague takes over the care of the patient as per current medical ethics,” said the spokesperson.

“These provisions make it clear that this right is limited to persons involved in the delivery of the treatment only.”