"WASTAGE OF LIFE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 137, 11 June 1936, Page 10

"WASTAGE OF LIFE"

MEDICAL CONCERN MINISTER SUPPORTED ATTITUDE OF DOCTORS A statement made by the Minister of ; Health (the Hon. P. Fraser) regard- : ing the attitude of members of the i medical profession in certain cases, , and published yesterday, is supported by a statement issued by the council of the New Zealand branch of the , British Medical Association after a meeting held in Wellington yesterday. The statement was issued on behalf of the council by the honorary general secretary (Dr. P. P. Lynch) and is as follows:— "The association has noted the remarks made by the Coroner in a recent case in Dunedin and also a state- ■ ment made by the Minister of Health in regard to the same matter last evening. The council of the association takes the opportunity to associate itself with the remarks of the Minister and assures him that the confidence felt by him in the profession is not misplaced. The association has always viewed with concern the wastage of life due to the practice of criminal abortion and has done everything in its power to aid the law in the suppression of this evil. ROYAL COMMISSION WANTED. "More than once the council has expressed surprise at the lightness of sentences imposed on convicted abortionists. The New Zealand Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society, which is affiliated to the association, has, as recently as March of this year, made representations to the Prime Minister to set up a Royal Commission or some other form of inquiry into the whole problem of abortion. The incident referred to constitutes another reason for the holding of such an inquiry. The members of the association are in general agreement with the Coroner and with the Minister in regard to the notification of a death which a doctor has reason to believe was the result of some person's criminal act. "The association will- take means to inform its members that such a course of action is one that should be adopted in these circumstances. This practice would then be in conformity with the rules laid down by the Royal College of Physicians for the guidance of practitioners in these cases. Such a recommendation, coming from the association, would in the future be a guide to the doctor in a situation which is always fraught with great difficulty and responsibility. If the Minister decides to set up any form of inquiry he will be afforded the full support of. the profession. "In regard to the position of the Director-General of Health in the matter, the members of the association are under no misapprehension. He was merely the channel through which an opinion on the purely legal aspects of the case was transmitted from the Crown Law Office to the Obstetrical Society." '