Surgery victims ‘need redress’

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.

The report to be launched today will claim the move is vital to ensure justice for more than 180 Irish survivors of the practice, many of whom are now elderly.

The Bodily Harm document, written by medical author Marie O’Connor, to be launched by feminist activist Germaine Greer, will state that more than 1,500 cases of the controversial procedure occurred between the 1940s and the early 1990s.