Iona Lot Of Airtime

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caseyAgain?

Professor of Psychiatry at UCD and the Mater Hospital, Patricia Casey, a co-founder with David Quinn of the Iona Institute, spoke with Sean O’Rourke on RTE Radio One’s News at One this afternoon about suicide and abortion.

Sean O’Rourke: “On the one hand you’re saying ‘modern psychiatry no evidence of abortion is treatment for suicidality’. The X case has been overtaken by modern thinking and ah it’s ‘medically redundant’ to use your phrase. If that is the case then you must equally be fearful that your colleagues, your colleague psychiatrists cannot be trusted.”

Professor Patricia Casey: “Well I’m, my concern is two-fold. My concern first of all is that women are going to be, some women will be having abortions if it is agreed on the grounds that it is going to help their mental health and there is no evidence for that. My second concern is that I wouldn’t use the word ‘floodgates’, I don’t like that but there will be widespread abortion within a short period of time because the prediction of suicide is extremely difficult. It’s not that people will deliberately..”

O’Rourke: “And that’s why you need psychiatrists to caution there. I mean we’re not talking about women’s health under the Irish Constitution that’s being legislated for. We’re talking about their lives. The life has to be under immediate…sorry, there has to be real and substantial threat to life as opposed to the health.”

Casey: “Well best practice in psychiatry doesn’t allow women who are suicidal to take their lives. We care for them we offer them support. We offer them any treatments that are necessary, talking treatments, medication and that should continue. But there is, there is a very genuine concern reflected that came to pass with similar laws in other countries that it it cannot be contained.”

O’Rourke: “But who if your argument is right, who is going to authorise these abortions in this country?”

Casey: “Well my bottom line is that the government needs to pause and needs to look at the evidence. They they need to step back and they need to say ‘Look the evidence to the to the em hearings and incidentally, the hearings took place after the government had decided to legislate. So they need to say now they need to admit that the evidence provided to the health committee should show that there is no need for this legislation they need to accept that they may harm women and go back to the drawing board on the suicide issue. That is why I am calling on the government to do at this point.”

O’Rourke: “The fear is to exclude abortion on suicide grounds that is unconstitutional to go that road.”

Casey: Well that would need to be discussed with lawyers. Some people suggest that dealing with the A,B,C cases doesn’t actually require legislation. That’s for the lawyers to do. But as an advocate for my patients and the women I treat, I have to say abortion may harm you and the government needs to take account of that and they need to step back and deal with this some other way.”

Listen here. Scroll to 04:53

We’ll just leave these here;

:Disabled girl sues doctor and psychiatrist for negligence (Tim Healy, 3 February 2010 Irish Independent)

High Court approves disability settlement (RTE News 10 February 2010)

Previously: Dr Peter Boylan And Breda O’Brien: The Transcript

Is The Iona Catholic?

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