‘Well past time’ Neary redress issue was sorted out, patients tell Reilly

Women left out of a redress scheme for former patients of disgraced surgeon Michael Neary have urged Health Minister James Reilly to keep his promise that he would look after them.

Sheila O’Connor of Patient Focus said 35 women were excluded from the redress scheme and had very strong medical reports that they were profoundly damaged by the doctor.

All of the women were aged over 40 when the obstetrician carried out unnecessary gynaecological procedures on them at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth.

Two years ago, Dr Reilly said he was committed to finding a way to sort out the problem for the damaged women who were excluded from the scheme.

Ms O’Connor said yesterday: “We think it is well past time that this issue was resolved. We were here two years ago just prior to the last general election when the current minister promised to have the matter resolved within one year.

“There is a commitment in the Programme for Government to resolve this and we write backwards and forwards to the minister and the Taoiseach but all we get are letters that it is being attended to.”

In response, the Department of Health said it was engaged in a review to identify the most appropriate mechanism to compensate the women and that the minister intended bringing a proposal to the Government on the matter before the summer recess.

Ms O’Connor said the women had written to Dr Reilly about 15 times in the last two years about the issue.

“Since Christmas we have written to the minister and Taoiseach and we just get back the same response — that it is being attended to, but that’s not enough.”

She said the women were “bitterly disappointed” as they had believed the minister when he told them that he would look after them and the matter would be resolved within a year.

A former patient of Dr Neary and one of the women excluded from the original scheme, Mary Pakenham, from Oldcastle, Co Meath, said they needed closure so they could get on with the rest of their lives.

Ms O’Connor said compensation payments under the Lourdes Hospital Redress Scheme ranged between €80,000 and €300,000, depending on the woman’s age, severity of the damage caused, and the number of children she had.

“What underlines the serious injustice is that the struck-off doctor is being paid a handsome pension by the State that continues to ignore its victims.”

Another former patient, Marie Raeburn from Ardee, Co Louth, said it was clear that the former doctor was a dysfunctional individual who damaged women beyond belief.

“He is a free agent drawing his big pension and we are left in limbo for so long with no progress at all,” she said.