Files missing, womb inquiry finds

AN INQUIRY into a Drogheda hospital where many women’s wombs were needlessly removed is believed to reveal that the medical files of more than 200 patients are missing.

According to a report in The Sunday Business Post, the Lourdes Inquiry - set up to investigate practices at the maternity unit of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda - has learned over 200 patient files and theatre records of surgical procedures have vanished.

This is six times greater than the number of files previously reported as missing and may be the reason for the delayed publication of the report of the inquiry, which Health Minister Mary Harney was presented with on January 27.

The newspaper report also claims the inquiry has found systematic evidence of attempts to cover up the surgical activities of Dr Michael Neary, who was struck off by the Irish Medical Council after being found guilty of professional misconduct and unnecessarily removing the wombs of 13 women attending the hospital.

The inquiry is believed to have found widespread neglect of hospital records, particularly in the maternity unit, making it difficult to examine surgical activities. The inquiry team found no system of signing out files, making it impossible to discover who handled patients’ records in the unit and who removed the files.

Ms Harney is expected to publish the inquiry’s report in the coming weeks.