Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution

Termination in Cases of Foetal Abnormality: Mr. Peter Thompson, Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital

1:30 pm

Mr. Peter Thompson:

One of the problems relates to being able to know how people are behaving. As I said, it is difficult to have an insight into how a person is behaving if he or she has a significant mental health disorder that nobody is divulging or can divulge. That can put us in difficulties. If a woman has a significant health problem, that can put us in other difficulties and the woman in danger. When under stress, people often do not reveal all of the issues they wish to communicate and do not tell us everything. Sometimes I forget some of my health problems when asked about them. It is quite difficult to go through those things. Such people are in very stressful situations and I sometimes think we give them sub-optimal treatment because we do not have all the information we should.