Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, the chain of causation is a concern but in saying that the second doctor is not needed in the same way as happens under 12 weeks because of the three-day waiting period and schedules, this option after 12 weeks assumes that the hospital will be in a position to initiate the termination straight away, which might not be the case. Someone in a maternity hospital could be sent home to see how things go or because there are no beds or something is wrong. There are reasons why someone would be sent home to wait a day or two for a procedure. It happened to me with high blood pressure. I ended up being hospitalised for a month and the staff constantly waited to see how bad the blood pressure got before they did something. In that circumstance, that clinician could easily change because having the same clinician is based on that individual being available to do that termination straight away. If anything, the chain of causation, if that is what we are looking at, would be made even more robust by a second doctor being able to read over the notes. As somebody else would be having a second look at the decision that was made, it seems even more robust than somebody making a decision in isolation and nobody reviewing the case or file. I do not see how it is really practicable because a doctor could finish his or her shift, could be going on holidays or something could happen to him or her on the way home. There could be a million reasons the termination does not happen on the same day, which means the shift will change automatically the next day.