A High Court judge has rejected a claim by a 76-year old woman that an unnecessary symphysiotomy was performed on her 12 days before the birth of her first baby at a Dublin hospital in 1963.

A 71-year-old woman, who claimed there was no justification for the symphysiotomy she underwent after the birth of her first baby more than 50 years ago, has settled her High Court action.

Thousands of previously unknown hospital files relating to patients who underwent “barbaric” symphysiotomies have been uncovered in private “off-site” locations across the country.

Victims of symphysiotomy to receive up to €150k compensation

Victims of a surgery inflicted on 1,500 women giving birth from the 1940s to 1980s have voted to reject a State compensation plan and instead take legal action as the Government deal does not admit "wrongdoing".

Patient Focus, which provides support to up to 200 women who underwent symphysiotomies, has welcomed assurances from Health Minister Leo Varadkar that the Government will start paying redress by the end of the year.

The Survivors of Symphysiotomy group, who have steadfastly refused to subscribe to redress schemes suggested by the Government, described themselves as "vindicated" by a UN report which called for an independent and thorough investigation into the practice and fair and adequate compensation.

Members of the Survivors of Symphysiotomy group will tell a United Nations’ watchdog committee on Monday that their plight is a human rights abuse.

Members of the Survivors of Symphysiotomy group have rejected the Government’s redress plan.

Women whose pelvises were sawed in half to facilitate childbirth are to bring their fight for justice to the UN as they accuse the Government of refusing to admit they were wronged.

Women who underwent symphysiotomies are to keep up their fight for compensation in the courts after dismissing as “shameful” Government attempt to offer a no-fault redress scheme.

The Government has appointed a judge to assess the possibility of an ex gratia compensation scheme for the estimated 300 women who were affected by the barbaric symphysiotomy procedure carried in a number of Irish hospitals from the 1920s to the 1980s.

The continuing refusal of this Government to deal fairly with survivors of symphysiotomy now stands exposed (Sept 26).

A campaign group has called for compensation of between €250,000 and €450,000 for women injured as a result of their pelvises being broken in “barbaric” surgical procedures during childbirth.

A group representing 200 women who suffered a discredited procedure during childbirth has called on the Government to support a private member’s bill in the Dáil next week to facilitate their action against hospitals.

It saddens me to write this letter, however, it involves a lot of ladies in Irish life today. Lately, we have been exposed to the horror stories of the Magdalene Sisters, especially in Cork, and how they treated young girls in their so-called convents.

Women who survived a barbaric procedure in Irish maternity hospitals are hoping their stories will go global following the release of a documentary.

The Walsh report on symphysiotomy ignores the experiences of women subject to the practice and the disastrous effects they still live with, writes Marie O’Connor

The author of an ongoing report into symphysiotomy has said it is “very disappointing” that a group representing survivors of the procedure has opted not to take part in a consultation process.

Doctors who forced a brutal medical procedure on pregnant women as recently as the 1990s did it to fight the crime of birth control, it has been claimed.

Anxiety is clearly mounting following the recent award of €450,000 to a survivor of symphysiotomy.

Job creation is crucial in helping our economy on the road to recovery but at the moment jobs are being destroyed at a higher rate than they are being created.

THE victims of symphysiotomy surgery must be compensated as they have been left with serious disabilities, life-long incontinence and other long-term medical problems, a report will argue.

GALWAY talisman Veronica Curtin struck for a winning point right on the hour to break Kilkenny’s hearts and snatch a place in the camogie league final on Sunday week for the westerners in a dramatic conclusion to the first semi-final at Nowlan Park yesterday.

SNOWED-IN couples are thought to have sparked an Irish “snow baby” boom after lovers found their own way of keeping warm during December’s Big Freeze, experts said last night.

HEALTH services throughout the country are being urged to plan for significant increases in the number of people with breathing difficulties over the next decade.

IN the litany of maternity care scandals at the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, one stands out: symphysiotomy.

WOMEN who underwent symphysiotomies in this country have called upon obstetricians to concede the procedures should not have taken place over the past century.

A BABY born at home attended by a self-employed midwife died from natural causes, a Cork coroner found (November 6).

NOTHING was as vital to Cork’s retention of their Gala All-Ireland senior camogie title in Croke Park yesterday as the steadiness of their full-back line under pressure and, once more, the absolute dependability of Aoife Murray’s goalkeeping.

KILKENNY may have been starved of senior camogie success of late, but midfielder Ann Dalton has never found herself short of accumulating honours.

BOTH the Cork senior camogie team and the Clare U-21 hurlers will presumably have to contend with a strong Kilkenny support in Croke Park tomorrow.

TWELVE times a winner herself over the course of a glittering career shared with her twin sister, Ann Downey’s delight in taking Kilkenny back to the Gala All-Ireland senior camogie final after a lapse of seven years is tempered by the awareness of what her young team faces on September 13.

THE Ryan Report revealed sexual and physical abuse on a monstrous scale in Ireland in the labour camps that were the industrial and reform schools. Since its publication, we have come to realise that, without acknowledgement there can be no healing, without redress, no closure.

2007 runners-up Cork turned the tables on champions Wexford with a comfortable 3-6 to 0-5 victory in the Gala All-Ireland senior camogie championship today.

THERE is a mote in the eye of HSE chief Brendan Drumm.

MORE than one-third of all public patient beds in Ireland are set to close over the next six years. This will enable private investors to make money from the sick and the dying.

A PROPOSED waste incinerator will pose a further threat to the health of residents of the Ringsend area of Dublin in a suburb that had already suffered considerable pollution, an oral hearing of the Environmental Protection Agency was told yesterday.

IN A shrinking economy, controlling the current pocket-lining arrangements is a priority. Medical inflation is not an act of God: it is a consequence of the “free market” in healthcare.

IT is unsurprising that the Government does not know the cost of its hospital co-location plans (July 26).

DARE we mention that Kilkenny camogie champions St Lachtain’s, Freshford are bidding for three-in-a-row in Sunday’s All-Ireland senior camogie final in Portlaoise against O’Donovan Rossa from Antrim.

AS pest control experts hunted down rats in a Limerick primary school yesterday, parents in Kilfinane said this was the last straw.

THE new board of the Dublin Airport Authority has been asked by Transport Minister Séamus Brennan to consider incorporating a second independent terminal at the airport into its business plan.

A HEAVILY pregnant woman who sought treatment for bleeding at the National Maternity Hospital was refused a scan unless she abandoned plans for a homebirth.