State faces €40m compo payout to Neary victims

THE State faces a €40 million payout for the malpractice of disgraced obstetrician Michael Neary after committing to a redress scheme for his victims.

Up to 250 women will seek compensation for the loss of their wombs and other traumas suffered in needless surgeries carried out by Neary and others at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda over a 25-year period.

Two families will also claim for the loss of babies they say died from negligent or inappropriate practices in the maternity unit. Their complaints were not documented in this week’s report by Judge Maureen Harding Clark who investigated the abnormally high rate of Caesarean hysterectomies at the hospital up to 1998.

But victims’ solicitor Colm MacGeehin said: “Their cases will come under the redress board, and every bad thing that happened at Drogheda hospital will come under the redress board, not just what was investigated by Judge Harding Clarke.”

Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney yesterday met victims group, Patient Focus, on the Government’s response to the report.

Patient Focus said they were “totally pleased” with the outcome.

Ms Harney is to return within a fortnight with firm proposals for a compensation scheme. She has already signalled that she expects Neary and the hospital’s former owners, the Medical Missionaries of Mary, to help fund the scheme.

That view was echoed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday when he told the Dáil: “The hospital was insured, the doctor was insured - they have to make sure that whatever arrangements are made that it’s not the taxpayers paying for everything.”

Several court awards, from €223,000 to €425,000, have already been made to women who successfully sued Neary. Based on those figures, the cost of processing all claims in the courts could be as high as €81m. A redress scheme is expected to meet the claims for half that.

The Taoiseach said the failure of the medical profession to put a stop to Neary raised issues that might have to be addressed through a licensing system.

“There is no licensing authority for hospitals, either public or private. That is an issue that arises. I understand it is not simple to do but I accept it should be done,” he said.