Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 6, line 29, to delete "previous existing" and substitute "pre-existing".

In accordance with the advice of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, this amendment makes a grammatical correction in the definition of indirect maternal death to refer not to a "previous existing disease" but, more correctly, a "pre-existing disease". Both terms are used in the World Health Organization, WHO, definition of indirect maternal death but the latter appears to be more grammatically correct. It also appears clearer. With this amendment the Bill will define an indirect maternal death as "the death of a woman resulting from a pre-existing disease or a disease that developed during pregnancy and which was not the result of direct obstetric causes but which was aggravated by the physiological effects of pregnancy".

The definitions of "maternal death", "direct maternal death" and "indirect maternal death" set out in the Bill are important new definitions in line with the internationally recognised World Health Organization international classification of diseases, ICD, definitions. They reflect the initiative on the part of Deputy Clare Daly to ensure the proper investigation of such deaths. The World Health Organization definitions are also those used by Irish doctors.