Letters to the editor - July 4, 2022
Legal guidance for doctors I have no intention of entering into the current abortion debate but one thing puzzles me about the recent case which has hit the headlines. As I understand it, the lady’s waters broke with complete loss of amniotic fluid when she was just 16 weeks pregnant. Even a medical student let alone a gynaecologist knows that, in such cases, there is a 100 per cent certainty that the foetus will die and that unless the non-viable pregnancy is terminated there is also a grave risk of the mother getting an infection (such infections can be particularly vicious) with the risk of death. There is, therefore, an absolute threat to the mother’s health. No “ifs”, no ‘buts”. What puzzles me, however, is why her attending doctors, knowing these facts but worried about the legal implications did not contact the duty magistrate, present the facts and ask for legal advice in this quandary. From what the eminent Giovanni Bonello has repeatedly confirmed in the media, the advice would have been clear, that is, to proceed with the termination despite the temporary presence of a heartbeat. I speak from personal experience as a doctor (retired anaesthetist) in the UK. In one...