[DR1] Private clinics to limit service

[NewsWhore]

The National Association of Private Clinics and Hospitals (ANDECLIP) has issued a statement saying that these institutions will be forced to reduce service or close altogether if the proposed changes to the Penal Code are ratified by the President. They allege that routine medical practices could become subject to criminal charges. At a press conference headed by ANDECLIP president Rafael Mena, the association said that clinics and doctors could not longer treat any woman who arrives at a medical facility with a miscarriage in process. Such cases would be sent to public health centers for medical attention in order to avoid prosecution for violations of the Penal Code as it now stands. Doctor Enriquillo Matos, the head of the Dominican Medical Association, said that such steps could lead to a collapse of the private medical services and a degraded health system in the whole country. He pointed out that even if a doctor has previously asked a patient if he or she is allergic to a certain medicine, and such medicine is used, leading to a serious reaction, the doctor could be accused of criminal negligence. The doctors also pointed out that in the case of miscarriages, the new legislation in unclear or ambiguous in its punishment of normal medical practices. The doctors were joined by the Women and Health Collective, which called on President Fernandez not to sign the new measures into law, because penalizing abortions in all of its phases would only increase public health, social justice and human rights problems. The organization claims that on average, nearly 550 women a day seek to end pregnancies any way they can. The majority are young women and teenagers from the poorest sectors of society. The Collective says that despite a lack of hard evidence, complications following induced abortions are the second leading cause of maternal death in the Dominican Republic.

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