Catholic hospital infringing ethics code, says peer

Jonathan Petre
Religion Correspondent

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster has been urged by a senior adviser to take action against a fashionable Catholic hospital in an ethics and abortion row that has embroiled the Vatican.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has been told by Lord Brennan, a Labour peer, to stop GPs at St John and St Elizabeth Hospital from referring women for abortions or prescribing the morning-after pill.

After carrying out an inquiry for the cardinal, Lord Brennan has concluded that the private hospital is infringing its own code of ethics.

The cardinal ordered the inquiry last year after the hospital - popularly known as John and Lizzie's - decided to allow GPs to operate NHS practices from its premises in St John's Wood, north London.

Senior Catholics complained that the GPs would be obliged under their NHS contracts to refer women for abortions and prescribe contraceptives in breach of Church teaching. The cardinal discussed the affair with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican watchdog that was headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger until he became Pope last year.

The hospital, of which the cardinal is the patron, is a favourite with celebrity mothers. Heather Mills McCartney, the actresses Cate Blanchett and Emma Thompson, the model Kate Moss and Sarah Cox, the radio presenter, have all had babies there.

Many of the complaints have emanated from the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics, the Church's own official think-tank on bio-ethical issues.

The hospital has defended its approach by arguing that, although it was proud of its Catholic heritage, it was committed to an ecumenical philosophy and was responsible for the care of all.

But Dr Helen Watt, the director of the Linacre Centre, said she hoped that the Brennan report would help secure "the serious changes needed to keep the hospital to a Catholic ethos".

She added: "Many take a consumerist view of health care as 'giving people what they want'. The Church takes a very different view - as, indeed, do those of other faiths who welcome the Church's insistence on respect for every human being.

"Women should be referred for advice only to individuals and institutions that will genuinely respect them and their unborn children.

"They are free to seek other, pro-abortion advice, but should never be aided in doing this by anyone who cares about their welfare."

Nicolas Bellord, the secretary of the Restituta Group, an organisation campaigning to retain the hospital's Catholic identity, said Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor would not be able to ignore Lord Brennan's findings. "We would expect the cardinal to take decisive action," he said.

A spokesman for the cardinal said yesterday that he was still awaiting the full report.

"A Catholic hospital must have a clear code of ethics based on Catholic teaching, and have systems to implement that code," he said.

"The cardinal will be reflecting on the final report, which he is confident will indicate the steps the hospital may need to take in order to safeguard its Catholic ethos."

jpetre@telegraph.co.uk



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