Doctor quizzed after refusal to treat unmarried couple for infertility
A doctor has been investigated by the Irish Medical Council after he declined to treat an unmarried couple for infertility.
According to the Irish Catholic newspaper the doctor, who runs a clinic in Galway, would not treat the couple because of his belief that only married people should have children.
Dr Phil Boyle, who runs a specialist fertility practice in Galway Clinic, a Catholic hospital, offers a treatment called napro technology which is fully compatible with the Catholic Church’s teaching on assisted human reproduction.
But Dr Boyle would not treat an unmarried couple who contacted him, because of his belief that only married people should have children.
He was summoned before the Irish Medical Council's Fitness to Practice Committee last week on a charge of professional misconduct, but was aquitted on what the Irish Catholic newspaper claims was a "technicality".
The paper said the couple could now take their case to the Equality Authority on the grounds that Dr Boyle is in breach of the Equal Status Act and that, if he is found guilty and fined, the case could potentially find its way to the Supreme Court.
