Landesarbeitsgericht stärkt Chefarzt im Abtreibungsstreit

In the dispute over restrictions on abortions, a chief physician at Lippstadt Hospital has achieved partial success before the Hamm State Labor Court. The court ruled that while the hospital may prohibit him from performing such procedures in his capacity as chief physician, this ban does not apply to his work as a panel doctor and his private practice in Bielefeld. This was reported by Tagesschau. This means the physician can once again perform medically indicated abortions outside of his chief physician duties, such as in cases of severe fetal diseases or lack of viability of the child. Such procedures are also possible at the hospital, provided they are performed within the framework of his outpatient work as a contract doctor. However, the internal service directive of the institution remains in place and continues to allow abortions in the inpatient area only in a few exceptional situations, such as acute danger to the life of mother or child.

The trigger for the conflict was the merger of a Protestant with a Catholic hospital, after which stricter guidelines for abortions were introduced at the location. The court fundamentally confirmed the right of the church institution to exclude certain medical services in its own facility. However, the chief physician's stance on performing abortions faces considerable criticism and has been causing public controversies for some time. The proceedings were accompanied by demonstrations where several hundred people advocated for the protection of unborn life.

Previously, UOJ reported that Bishop Clement celebrated a prayer service in front of an abortion clinic in New York.

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