Patricia Casey

Professor Patricia Casey is an Irish psychiatrist and conservative activist. She is Professor of Psychiatry at University College Dublin and consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin. [http://www.ucd.ie/research/people/medicinemedicalscience/professorpatriciarcasey/ UCD Research: Professor Patricia R Casey ] ] She may be best known for her promotion of mental health awareness and for her right-wing stances on a variety of social issues.

Background and personal life

Brought up in Ballynoe in County Cork, Casey's father was a council worker and farmer, while her mother worked as a public health nurse at a time when it was highly unusual for both parents to work outside the home. She has one sibling; a younger sister, Terry. Excelling at school, she went on to study medicine at University College Cork and soon after graduation met her husband, John McGuiggan. Casey notes that she and her husband are at opposite ends of the political spectrum [http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_eamondunphy.xml RTÉ - Conversations with Eamon Dunphy ] ] .

Medical career

Casey has written five books on psychiatry and is editor of the British "Psychiatric Bulletin". Her clinical and research interests include depression and suicide prevention. From 1994 to 1999, she chaired the Irish Fitness to Practise Medical Council Committee. In 2007, The Dubliner magazine listed her in their "Good Doctor Guide". [ [http://thedubliner.typepad.com/the_dubliner_magazine/2007/04/the_good_doctor.html The Dubliner Magazine: The Good Doctor Guide ] ]

Conservative Activism

Casey is a practising Roman Catholic. She sits on the board of the Iona Institute; a conservative Catholic think-tank which she helped to found [ [http://www.ionainstitute.ie/personnel_patrons.php Iona - Personnel And Patrons ] ] . Casey is known for her opposition to divorce, advising the Irish government against holding a referendum to legalise divorce in 1995 [http://www.irishelection.com/10/your-tax-euros-at-work/] . She also maintains that "the sense of loss children feel when parents separate is greater than when a parent dies". She does not, however, disagree with divorce in the case of a violent or abusive spouse [http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2004/02/09/story815941872.asp] . Casey also opposes abortion [ [http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/07/09/story15570.asp Ethical questions in embryo battle: ThePost.ie ] ] [ [http://www.studiesirishreview.ie/j/page393 Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review ] ] [ [http://www.familyandlife.org/newsletter_popup.php?id=40 Family & Life ] ] [ [http://www.tcd.ie/cgws/events/newresearch2001.php Conference on New Research in Irish Feminism - Events - Centre for Gender & Women's Studies - Trinity College ] ] surrogate pregnancy, [ [http://www.middlekilleavy.com/index.php?artid=2630&option=com_cifeed&task=newsarticle Parish of Middle Killeavy Home ] ] , anonymous donor "in vitro" fertilisation [ [http://www.independent.ie/health/the-forbidden-love-between-relatives-separated-at-birth-1270147.html The forbidden love between relatives separated at birth - Health, Frontpage - Independent.ie ] ] , non-traditional family units [http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/we-dont-need-wishful-thinking-on-divorce-facts-1291208.html] , adoption by gay parents and same-sex marriage. She is a proponent of heterosexual adoption [http://www.irlgov.ie/committees-00/c-constitution/000523/default.htm Joint Committee the Constitution - default 000523 ] ] . Casey has testified in front of the Irish Government, at the British House of Commons and in Irish legal cases on a number of these issues [ [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/1045/104511.htm House of Commons - Science and Technology - Twelfth Report ] ] . She also writes a regular opinion column for the Irish Independent newspaper and in the past has contributed to the Sunday Business Post and to the letters page of the Irish Times, as well as appearing on national television and radio.

Criticism

In her arguments against same-sex marriage and gay adoption, Casey has been faulted for repeatedly misrepresenting research data. To support her claims Casey regularly refers to a parenting study from Uppsala University, Swedenhttp://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2008/0310/1204843733113.html] . The University and the authors of the report have publicly denounced Casey's interpretation of their results as invalid and have stated that "there is nothing whatsoever in our review that would justify the conclusion that same-sex parents cannot raise healthy children who do well"http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/0422/1208469018031.html] .

Casey has also falsely claimed that the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) supports her position which Executive Director of UNICEF Ireland, Melanie Verwoerd, denounced as "incorrect and unacceptable".

References