Temple Street scandal: how non-medical springs were implanted in children with scoliosis

A litany of errors has destroyed confidence in CHI, putting a cloud over the new hospital

A CHI principal clinical engineering technician was copied in the emails but does not seem to have questioned how the springs would be used. Picture: Sasko Lazarov

In November 2018 an Irish spinal surgeon travelled to Portugal for a conference featuring some of the world’s top scoliosis researchers.

What he heard there ultimately led to a metal spring disintegrating inside Luke Ryan, now 8, and similar surgery on two other children.