Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I heard what my colleague, Senator Burke, had to say in the context of people needing to get medical treatment abroad. However, a category of people who, by definition, cannot get medical treatment abroad are those in need of intensive care treatment, that is, patients needing critical care support in our hospitals. It is disturbing to learn that 300 people a year may be dying because of a lack of intensive care beds. It is disturbing to learn that Ireland has 3.7 beds per 1,000 of population. This is about two thirds of the OECD rate. Germany has eight beds per 1,000. It is disturbing to hear and to learn that, in some cases, people are missing out on life saving organ transplants because of the bed shortage and that there is a higher mortality for patients who, due to the shortage, are placed in unsuitable locations.

This strikes me because we will be discussing the pro-life issue and what it means to be truly pro-life later on. Our hospital care system is not very pro-life in the way that it is operating. I am not faulting medical staff, who are doing their best. In fact, they are the ones who are pointing out a situation where, apart from the possible impact on patients, there is also the possible negative psychological impact on medics of having to choose, in some cases, who gets care because of the shortage.

Dr. Emily O'Connor of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine states that they have to make very tough decisions regarding which critically ill patients to prioritise. She stated: "It is no exaggeration to say this can mean the difference between someone being offered the opportunity of critical care or not." In other words, if one person gets the bed, someone else loses it. This is in a First World society, where potentially 300 people are losing their lives for the want of beds. We hear so much about this in the hospital system but we need to let it sink in. I am worried that we are seeing a system that has been allowed to degrade to such a point that those who have dedicated their lives to healing the wounds of others are being forced to decide which of their patients is to be let die due to a lack of resources.Are we there? If that is true, the system is now harming not only the patients but also the doctors because no doctor should ever have to decide which of his or her patients-----