. . . derivar a una determinada unidad . . .

Question

This sentence was at the end of an article in elmundo.es.

Por último, la ley del Aborto incluirá algún punto que obligue a los hospitales públicos a derivar a una determinada unidad a las mujeres que deseen abortar, para evitar que el derecho de los médicos a la objeción de conciencia les obligue a hacerlo en una clínica privada.

My attempt to translate:

Finally, the abortion law will include a provision that obligates public hospitals to ___|\___|__ [to] women who want to have an abortion, to prevent . . .

What does derivar a una determinada unidad mean? I get "to divert [or refer'] a particular unit," which is nonsensical.

For the end of the sentence, I am not sure what lo is referring to, and so am in doubt if it means:

to prevent the doctors claiming a conscientious objection from forcing the women to go to a private clinic

OR

to prevent the doctors who have a conscientious objection from having to practice in a private clinic

As you can see, I am pretty confused on this one.

Answer 1

"Derivar" means send in this context. What this is saying is that the abortion law will include a provision to obligate public hospitals to send the women to a specific unit, to avoid doctors with an ethic objection to abortion send them to have it in a private clinic.

Answer 2

Por último, la ley del Aborto incluirá algún punto que obligue a los hospitales públicos a derivar a una determinada unidad a las mujeres que deseen abortar, para evitar que el derecho de los médicos a la objeción de conciencia les obligue a hacerlo en una clínica privada.

"Finally, the abortion law will include a provision that obligates public hospitals to refer to a specific unit any women who want to have an abortion, to prevent doctors with ethical objections from obliging those women to go to a private clinic for their abortion."

I think the Spanish is literally saying "to avoid (situations in which) the right of doctors to conscientious objection obliges them [the women] to do it [the abortion] in a private clinic."

So the law results in the women being automatically referred to a special abortion unit, thereby taking the decision out of the hands of the doctor and releasing him or her from any ethical dilemma. That's how I see it, anyway.

Answer 3

Thank you, James and Guillermo. For whatever reason, I did not receive an e-mail notification when you responded to this, and I have only this morning realized that the forum is up and running again!

Knowing that derivar meant refer in this case clears everything up, thanks again!

• Derivar=to refer, in medical matters. I am a Medical Interpreter. - Myneg Sep 23, 2010

Answer 4

NATASHA!!!

How nice to see you back