Results 44,141-44,160 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: That is the allegation being made to which I am responding. Let us play it out. What would happen if we were to pass this amendment is that if there were screening to determine gender, the law would state something along the lines that a woman could have a termination if the foetus was male but could not if the foetus was female. That would be the essential implication. If there were...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: That is not something that could ever be implemented in our society. For that reason, I will oppose the amendment. I am not suggesting for one second that it was written in a mischievous way, but its implications would be profoundly bad in terms of what would actually have to happen in reality were it to be passed. For those who do not believe termination should ever be allowed on...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I move amendment No. 14:In page 9, to delete lines 10 to 12. I will discuss amendments Nos. 14 and 18 together. These are the amendments I tabled on Committee Stage in an effort make the legal situation around what happens when a foetus becomes viable very clear. The legislation requires some thinking through to get there. A number of people whose views on the legislation vary widely have...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: As I set out on Committee Stage, I do not agree with the three-day period and there is no medical evidence to back it up. However, it is unambiguously in the heads of the Bill and, therefore, it is part of what people voted for. If we are applying a principle that says we must stay in line with what the people voted for, inevitably we will sometimes vote for provisions that we personally...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Report Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I support the intent of amendment No. 12 but in practical terms the best data collection is probably served by not inserting this amendment. The section covers the issue, stating that the Minister shall, after not later than three years, carry out a review of the operation of the legislation. The amendment makes some reasonable suggestions as to what needs to be in that review, including...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the witnesses for appearing before us this morning and for their preparation. I know they have put together a lot of documentation. I thank Dr. Lambert for his work and Ms Lawless for her testimony and work with the association. Obviously, it has affected her in a very serious way over many years. It is hoped her work has been very helpful. It sounds like it has been very useful...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Great.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: What they are saying is that nervous system involvement arises in approximately 10% to 15% of cases. Therefore, they estimate there could be about 300 cases in a year of Lyme disease that they would describe as the serious form.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: In the interests of time, I just want to get into the question. We are not medical experts. We have one doctor here. Therefore, we rely on medical experts and the institutions. We have a pretty sophisticated medical community. I know Ms Lawless is frustrated with its lack of willingness to change on this issue, although, in fairness, it changes on other issues all the time. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: We have a pretty good medical and scientific community in this country that brings new treatments on line all the time. In a while, we will be told that the guidelines produced by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, IDSA, are those upon which the vast majority of clinicians in Ireland base their treatment. The IDSA comes up with the guidelines. The witnesses in session two will go...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: The medical and scientific communities deal with matters like this every day and, please God, most of the time they get them right. There is evidence on this and it is not just anecdotal. The evidence is from around the world. Is there something about this chronic condition that is different and makes it harder for the standard analytical approach taken by these bodies to recognise it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: It is very puzzling.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: We also deal with orphan drugs quite a bit and orphan drugs, by definition, are for rare diseases. The system has no issue in dealing with the concept of rare diseases. With other diseases and infections, I have never heard the State say that as it is rare, the people who have it actually do not have it and the condition does not exist. Being rare is not cited in any other case so it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I have a question on testing and treatment. There are four clinicians for this in Ireland so does the State fund the best testing that is currently available? If a clinician decides a patient has chronic Lyme disease and he or she should be treated with whatever the right course of longer-term antibiotics is, would testing and ongoing treatment be currently funded by the State?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank all the delegates for attending and for their time. I would like to walk through the process from the patient's perspective and try to understand where the disagreements are between the testimony we heard earlier today and the one we are hearing now and the difference between the various studies the delegates are citing and those cited earlier today. It has been suggested that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: So it would not surprise Dr. Sheehan. It was put to us that in some cases, the lack of awareness among general practitioners is leading to misdiagnosis, which I understand can lead to a longer-term infection because the infection is not being treated straight away.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Is the point on awareness-raising reasonable?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: If, for example, a GP sees a patient and has received the requisite training and experience to be aware of the condition, the first course of action is to make a clinical diagnosis and do a two-stage blood test. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: The standard treatment is a course of antibiotics for three to four weeks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Lyme Disease: Discussion (28 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: There does not seem to be much disagreement on short-term or acute episodes if we consider what the delegates say and what we heard earlier. It sounds like there is an opportunity in creating a better awareness among GPs, particularly in place like Portumna where the condition is more prevalent. Moving to the longer term, it is my understanding the delegates recognise that the infection can...