Mixed reaction to symphysiotomy mediation offer

The Government’s offer to establish a mediation process overseen by a judge to determine what women who underwent symphysiotomies want has received a mixed response from those representing the victims.

The offer was outlined yesterday by Health Minister James Reilly at a meeting attended by three different groups including patient advocacy group Patient Focus; Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SoS), a national membership group for women and their families affected by symphysiotomy and SoS Ltd, a group associated with Patient Focus.

While Patient Focus and SoS Ltd said they believed a “negotiated mediation” rather than litigation “could be less traumatic and time consuming for the injured women”, enabling them to find some closure and move on with their lives, SOS said its members would not be co-operating with “any Magdalene-type redress scheme”.