‘We are unambiguously arguing for the defence of life’
Calvary Public Hospital has reaffirmed its commitment to professional, non-judgmental quality care after the health facility was misrepresented at an ACT abortion inquiry last week.
Calvary chief medical advisor Dr Tracey Tay said the hospital took its role as a public health provider “very seriously”.
Dr Tay stated that while Calvary did not offer elective termination of pregnancy, emergency treatment would always be provided.
“Canberra women can be assured Calvary Public Hospital Bruce absolutely does and will continue to care for them and provide immediate emergency treatment when experiencing miscarriage,” she said.
In a report published last Tuesday, the ACT legislative assembly committee inquiry also recommended the ACT Government intervene in Calvary’s decision not to provide elective terminations.
Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn chancellor Patrick McArdle said Catholic health facilities were upfront in their stance.
“You can’t require a corporate entity like the hospital to act contrary to its conscience. That would be a fundamental breach of the nature of our understanding of human rights,” he said.
“People are entitled to know there are services we don’t offer. We are committed to life in all its forms, from conception to natural death. That’s part and parcel of our commitment to being compassionate and merciful. First and foremost, we are required to be compassionate. And for us, that means enhancing life, not seeking to end life.”
Mr McArdle said while Calvary did not involve themselves in deliberate acts intended to end life, the hospital would always treat the clinical conditions that were presented.
“Virtually no hospital anywhere in Australia performs all the clinical procedures that might be possible,” he said.
“The Royal Women and Children’s Hospital, by and large, wouldn’t operate on men. It’s not an objection – it’s just that they don’t offer that range of services. The Peter McCallum cancer centre doesn’t, by and large, do vascular surgery. In Calvary’s case, they have a clear thing that they don’t do – any procedure that intentionally ends life.”
“Life is good and it should be preserved. It should be saved. But now, at both this beginning and end of life, when it is fragile and vulnerable, we are experiencing significant members of society saying there should be choices.”
Mr McArdle said upcoming legislation around voluntary assisted dying (VAD) was another instance where Catholic organisations would face pressure to relax what the government perceived as ‘unreasonable’.
“We are unambiguously arguing for the defence of life,” he said.
“Life is good and it should be preserved. It should be saved. But now, at both this beginning and end of life, when it is fragile and vulnerable, we are experiencing significant members of society saying there should be choices.”
These choices, Mr McArdle explained, do not offer the support that is needed.
“We have often spent a lot of time talking about the philosophical underpinnings of our decisions, but when it comes to the patient in front of us, the suffering patient, we do need to remind people that we provide most of the hospice care in Australia,” he said.
“Currently, Clare Holland House has a capacity for 28 beds but only funding for about 23. According to Calvary, they believe about 50% of the requests for palliative care in the home are unmet due to a lack of funding.
“Euthanasia is a brutal and immoral way of eliminating pain,”
“So, when we say people want to choose to die at home – if that choice is at home, in pain and not able to be looked after, that isn’t much of a choice at all. We need to increase the funding so anyone who wants it is able to access palliative care as they see fit. And then we can talk about what happens when it doesn’t work.”
Archbishop Christopher Prowse said high-quality palliative care made VAD unnecessary.
“Euthanasia is a brutal and immoral way of eliminating pain,” he said.
“Minimising pain through high-quality palliative care that targets pain management in a particular patient is a better way. Catholic medical ethics has always acknowledged that pain relief in terminal conditions, in fact, may shorten life. However, the all-important intention is to relieve pain. Death must not be the intended outcome.”
Archbishop Prowse noted Clare Holland House offered exceptional palliative care.
“It gives national leadership in providing top treatment of pain relief to the terminally ill,” he said.
“Furthermore, it also deepens a cultural need pastorally to assist patients and their family and friends in approaching the inevitable death with grace.”
The archbishop said legislation aimed at deliberately taking human life via VAD, suicide or state-sanctioned killing of any kind was wrong.
“Surely, the fundamental duty of government is to protect citizens, especially the most vulnerable, from all forms of violence. To envisage killing is morally wrong and contrary to the nature of good government,” he said.
“It should come, therefore, as no surprise when I state that no Catholic facility and no staff of Catholic facilities will participate in euthanasia or assisted dying.”