‘Women died after being denied access to drugs’

A senator has claimed women died after being denied access to lifesaving drugs when a cancer research programme was shut down by St Vincent’s Hospital.

John Crown made more claims about the Dublin hospital yesterday, using his privilege in the Seanad, where he also said tens of thousands of euro were spent to cover up financial fraud.

Earlier this week, he claimed he had documents which showed the “cover-up” by hospital management after health insurers were “fraudulently” charged for cancer drugs over 10 years ago. Representatives for St Vincent’s Hospital last night said they were still “urgently” awaiting the documents from the senator.