Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Each of the witnesses might answer "Yes" or "No" to the following question. If the Houses of the Oireachtas passed legislation similar to the Bill before us, would it force any of the witnesses to do anything against best medical practice as we know it now? It is important to clarify this with a "Yes" or "No" answer for the committee.

My next question is about the heads on physical and mental illness and has as much to do with the legislation as with a medical ethos. A physical illness is very much about an objective diagnosis which one can clearly make very straightforwardly, whereas mental illness involves a more subjective diagnosis. Under the legislation as proposed, there is a reference to two psychiatrists and one obstetrician. Do the witnesses feel the obstetrician should have an informed opinion to add to those of the psychiatrists rather than an overall veto? This more or less goes back to what is a medical ethos and the relationship with the patient. Dr. Boylan has said the decision is the patient's because some patients want more and some want less, which is the basis of the relationship practitioners have with them. Perhaps we should approach it from that point of view in the legislation.

Since I qualified as a doctor 20 years ago, 100,000 women of child-bearing age have had terminations in other jurisdictions. I have treated and looked after some of these patients when they have returned and I would never paint their experiences in a uniform way. They have all experienced matters differently, both then and since, and we must be very humane about how we discuss their experiences.