PERTH, WA: December 13, 1990
Registered by Australia Post Publication No. WAR 0202
Number 2718
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last the War say s tli e tesott, • Page
Break the deadlock over nursing homes call The deadlock between This was offered by the the Catholic bishops and bishops after Mr Hawke the government over supplied re-wording of doctors attending nursing Minister Staples' earlier homes was listed for a proposal. critical meeting on ThumThat re-wording is as day between bishops' follows: representatives and the "In the case of nursing Prime Minister. homes being operated by The bishops wrote to a Religious body, the the Prime Minister on proprietor may bring to November 21 objecting the attention of a medito a government pro- cal or health practiposed amendment and tioner entering the nursduring their meeting in ing home to treat the Sydney last week called resident, the doctrines, on Mr Hawke "as a tenets, beliefs or teachmatter of urgency" to ings of the Religious body respond to their letter. operating the facility, A proposed amend- and remind the medical ment from the bishops' practitioner of obligaconference reads: tions under the law." To that proposal, Cardi"In Sub-Clause 10.2, after the word 'choice', nal Clancy, the conferinsert — 'but a health ence president said: care professional shall "I regret to say that not have the right to clause remains unaccepdeliver professional ser- table. MayIalso point out vices at a nursing home that a nursing home operated by a Religious proprietor does not need body if that health care any special authorisation professional does not to do what is provided for agree to respect and in the amendment. In observe, in the exercise this regard, the implicaof her/his profession tions of the amendment within the nursing for a nursing home home, the philosophy of proprietor who is not a health care service of the religious body would be religious body.'" worrYing•
Just moments after Bishop Healy ordained him a deacon last Saturday, Reverend Tony Vallis was busy preparing the altar for the eucharist that followed in Our Lady of Lourdes church Yokine. • See "Tony has a big heart for God" on page 10.
out of step with the majority of Australians and the majority of Catholics.
Quote V In a runaway secularist society such as ours the Church is called upon to take an unpopular stand on many issues, and to maintain its position, however rejected and even ridiculed by others that position might sometimes be. The Church is no stranger to this kind of situation. Be it remembered, however, that the Church is you and me and every single individual baptised into its membership. We all have a part to play, an obligation to fulfil. The new Mater is an achievement of great faith. — Cardinal Clancy
Issues causing crisis — P. 2 "The philosophy of Catholic nursing care rests on certain moral principles that derive from the Gospel and have stood the test of time. They are today under threat from a secular world that on many issues seeks to abandon our common Christian tradition. "Moral principles of their very nature are permanent and indivisible, and are nonnegotiable.
"Catholic nursing homes cannot subscribe to any agreement that leaves the way open for a medical practitioner, with or without the patient's consent, to carry out any procedure that is contrary to its philosphy. "To do so would be to cooperate in that procedure. "Our nursing homes accept residents on the basis that their philosophy will be complied
with. No agreement is acceptable which does not leave open to a proprietor the right to exclude from practising in the nursing home any health care professional who will not agree to respect and observe in the exercise of her/his profession within the nursing home, the philosophy of health care service of the proprietor." The Minister for Aged Care, Mr Staples, claims that a veto on doctors is
The minister rejected the Catholic Church's proposed amendment to the clause, which would exclude doctors who would not agree to "respect and observe . . . the philosophy of health care service of the proprietor", but was willing to negotiate on changes. A similar agreement has already been made with the Australian Medical Association with regard to Catholic hospitals. But Mr Staples said the same principles did not apply because hospitals dealt with sterilisation and abortion, which were accepted by law. He said euthanasia was illegal, therefore such an agreement was not necessary. But Cardinal Clancy in his letter to the Prime Minister says: "The fact that the nursing home provides permanent accommoda-
tion for its residents, apart altogether from the question of nursing care, makes no difference to the principles involved in this issue. "Furthermore, substantial Government funding of our nursing homes has not hitherto made departure, or possible departure, from our philosophy of health care a qualifying condition. "I again respectfully request that the proposed agreement quite explicitly require health care professionals working in the nursing homes to comply with the nursing homes' philosophy. "A spokesman for the AMA has stated that 'the AMA can see no problem with extending the same principle as applies to Catholic hospitals to Catholic nursing homes'. "From the earliest days of colonisation to the present day, the Catholic Church has been, and remains, a major contributor of health care in the service of the Australian community."