PERTH, WA: October 25, 1990
Registered by Australia Post Publication No. WAR 0202
Number 2711
POST ADDRESS: PO Box 50, Northbridge, 6000 W.A. LOCATION: 26 John St, Northbridge (east off Fitzgerald St).
TELEPHONE: (09) 328 1388
FAX (09) 328 7307
PRICE 60C
CATHOLIC DOCTORS GET A STRONG REMINDER FROM HICKEY
Ethics Catholic doctors are now in an ethical minefield and they need information and the support of each other to confront the issues, Bishop Hickey told the Catholic Doctors Association last Sunday. Doctors are being presented with hard cases in their surgeries without the benefit of discussions with their colleagues particularly those with a Catholic moral perspective. "They are under pressure to make decisions in a context of moral uncertainty," Bishop Hickey said during the Mass for the annual general meeting of the association. Over 100 doctors, s tudents and their families were hosted at breakfast by the St John of God Sisters at Belmont. The meeting that followed was
chaired by the president Dr Michael Shanahan. Bishop Hickey said abortion was one of the most obvious of accepted practices that are at variance with Catholic moral principles that are expected of doctors. "While the issues of and contraception abortion have caused agonies in Church circles for some time, they are being overtaken by others where moral principles are not at all clear in their application." These included: • Gamete lntrafallopian tube transfer; • Management of Anenceply in Utero; • Sterilisation of the mentally impaired; • Use of foetal tissue in research; and • Management of rape cases.
•
Grief syndrome
ADELAIDE: An Adelaide medical practitioner said the consequences of abortion were affecting the culture of SA society. Dr Toni Turnbull said postabortion grief syndrome was well and doctors to known psychiatrists. Women were often not told the full facts when they presented for an abortion and she frequently saw the physical and psychological consequences, she said. "Many times abortion is explained as a clinically safe surgical procedure but not that it can leave a woman with permanent physical complications as well as potentially chronic psychological problems," she said. Dr Turnbull said that while not all women would experience all the symptoms of post-abortion grief syndrome, or to the same extent, there was a "significant group" affected in SA. Some of the symptoms of postabortion grief syndrome were unresolved grief, guilt, changes in personality, depression, general unhappiness, obvious neurosis, loss of inner peace and the joy of
'No sex' married priests: Vatican tells all Page 7
being alive, loss of self esteem and every day coping skills, she said. A common problem was that a person had no feeling as the result of an abortion and had difficulty sustaining deep meaningful relationships, she said. "Relationships quite often fall apart after an abortion. She feels rejected because he's rejected the baby," she said. Archbishop Faulkner said: "Our community in South Australia is hurting from the effects of twenty years of legalised abortion," he said. `There is a growing group who are suffering the now wellrecognised post-abortion grief syndrome. "Many of these women were not counselled properly in the first place. They were rushed into a hasty decision. "Abortion is not the answer to an unwanted pregnancy," he said. Archbishop Faulkner said more information needed to be given to both women and men on the alternatives to abortion.
Add to these the potential conflict of doctors working in a medical setting where certain morally objectionable procedures are expected, and promotion where depends on their performance, we can begin to see the challenge facing the medical profession and the Church, and how much we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Bishop Hickey urged his listeners to be informed and "to be true to yourself". "Where an issue is morally clear one must be firm and courageous, knowing there can be no compromise. "To stand firm on issues of life and death can be a lonely experience for many in the medical profession. One needs the support of colleagues more so today when new issues
and morally ambiguous situations continue to arise. Bishop Hickey said it was important to be wary of "that product of our democratic and individualistic society" called tolerance. "Tolerance" often means not taking a stand, he said. He told the doctors that they too can be sacramental in allowing God to work through them to build up His kingdom. Healing is effected sacramentally through the skill, the knowledge and the devotion and love of caring doctors. But healing is not nor can ever be the monopoly of the medical profession. Healing occurs in the interaction of the physical and the spiritual at all levels and in all situations.
Challenge of coping and helping Page 3