Legal blow to womb removal women

FIFTEEN women, who claim their wombs were removed by a doctor without their consent, say vital medical files relating to their cases have gone missing.

Without the files, the women will not be able to take legal action or obtain details of their surgery, according to the Sheila O’Connor of the support group Patient Focus.

Last week the High Court found Co Louth-based obstetrician Dr Michael Neary medically negligent in the first of more than 60 legal actions to be taken against him.

Alison Gough, 37, who sued Dr Neary after he removed her womb unnecessarily after the birth of her first child by caesarean section, was awarded €273,000 in damages.

Despite an extensive trawl by the North-Eastern Health Board which turned up additional files in recent years, many records are still missing.

Changes in Our Lady of Lourdes hospital, Drogheda, including the transfer of files to a storage facility, have been blamed by some for the disappearance of the files.

Ms O’Connor, who said the group was happy with the health board’s attempt to find the files, said there were still question marks over how records went missing.

“There’s no pattern to the missing files, they cross all dates. It could be just sheer incompetence or something else.

“Some women, when they learn of what happened, go into a deep mourning and try to deal with it. But the women whose records are missing are in limbo and haven’t had a chance to grieve properly,” Ms O’Connor said.

Ms O’Connor called on the Government to establish a compensation tribunal, as has happened in other medical scandals, if the women are unable to recover the relevant files.

The controversial operations in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital were carried out over a 20-year period.

Around 40 to 45 cases are being prepared by women who claim they had their wombs removed without consent. The cases are expected to be heard before the courts next year.

At least another 15 cases will be taken later.

In last week’s case, the court heard Dr Neary, whose name was removed from the Medical Register in 1999, carried out one hysterectomy for every 20 caesarean births. This compared to an average of one in 441 at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin.

Dr Neary, however, claimed an above-average number of uterine abnormalities in his patients.

He hinted at links with Sellafield-related defects.

He has also claimed blood transfusions were not an easy option for the women because blood was in short supply and the hepatitis C scare meant patients were reluctant to receive it.