An article in a leading Irish medical journal has hit out at the decision of the Fitness to Practice committee of the Medical Council to charge fertility expert Dr Phil Boyle of professional misconduct.

Dr Boyle, who operates a fertility practice in the Galway Clinic, was accused with the charge because he refused to treat an unmarried couple, in line with his Catholic beliefs. He was acquitted on a technicality.

Writing in the Irish Medical Times, Dr Ruairi Hanley, said that the Medical Council decision reflected a mindset which regarded “medical independence as an anachronism that must be crushed”.

He said that he had worked with colleagues who refused to prescribe the contraceptive pill.

Dr Hanley said: “Although I greatly admire them, I vehemently disagree with their stance. Nonetheless, they may be assured that I will passionately defend their fundamental right to practise medicine according to their conscience.

“I fear I am now becoming a member of a tolerant minority.”

Referring to the Medical Council’s case, he said “it appears that a medical practitioner, who has placed no patient at risk, can now be threatened with crucifixion for practising medicine according to his conscience”.

Dr Hanley asked: “Will those opposed to social abortion, under a future government regime, find themselves facing potential career destruction for refusing to support such a procedure?”

He said that the Medical Practitioners Act, passed in 2007 “potentially opens to door to this type of scenario”.

Dr Hanley appealed to those who disagreed with Dr Boyle’s stance to “swallow your intolerance for Catholicism”.

The independence of of the medical profession, he added “must never be abandoned”.

This fundamental principle should always include the right to practise medicine according to your conscience, he said.