Cancer drug trial delayed in row over contraception
The Mater in Dublin postponed a decision on the potentially life-saving trial because encouraging contraception conflicted with the hospital’s religious ethos.
It is the second hospital known to have taken issue with the requirement on ethical grounds, despite the risks to the unborn child if the patient became pregnant while taking a relatively new medication.
Consultant oncologist at the Mater Dr John McCaffrey said he respected the difficulties the requirement caused for the hospital, but he insisted doctors needed to be able to offer patients the best treatments available.
“We can’t do that at the moment and it’s a disaster,” said Dr McCaffrey. Delaying the trial because of disagreement over use of contraception made little sense when most of his patients were too ill for pregnancy to be an issue, he said.
The drug trial is already underway in Beaumount and Tallaght hospitals, having been approved by the Irish Medicines Board last May, and Mater patients were also keen to take part.
Hospitals had 60 days to decide whether to participate but, while the deadline has passed, Dr McCaffrey said he was still hopeful the Mater could be included if the hospital resolved its ethical dilemma. A spokesperson for the hospital declined to comment.
The requirement for cancer patients to use contraception while taking part in clinical trials also caused delays in a trial at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin last year.
Dr John Crown, consultant oncologist, said the ethics committee there did not want women using contraceptives despite huge risks if they become pregnant. Dr Crown said it was “highly inappropriate” for an ethics committee to object to the use of contraception given the potentially fatal effect of experimental cancer treatment on an unborn child.
“The requirement that patients not get pregnant while taking part in a trial is critically important when you could be dealing with unknown side effects on the unborn child,” Dr Crown said. “Doctors who look after patients with cancer understand the requirements that people not get pregnant.”
Dr Crown said it was unfortunate the religious ethos of the hospital had an impact on the practice of medicine and he said it was “essential that the interests of the cancer patient be protected from sectarian concerns”. Dr Crown works at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin, which is owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity and funded by the State.
He said his research team no longer applies to St Vincent’s ethics committee for trial approval.
“We send our submission to institutions with a track record of making patient welfare a priority,” he said.
