The controversial decision by the North Eastern Health Board to suspend maternity services at Monaghan General Hospital more than three years ago is set to be challenged in the High Court in Dublin this week.
Four women from Monaghan, including a sister of Ms Denise Livingstone, whose baby died in an ambulance after she was turned away from the hospital in an advanced stage of labour 18 months ago, are taking the action against the health board. The case is listed for hearing tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday.
The suspension of maternity services at the Monaghan hospital in February 2001 has caused uproar in the county, and led to several protest marches.
It also led to major controversy when Emyvale woman Ms Livingstone was not allowed to deliver her baby at the hospital in December 2002 even though she was in an advanced stage of labour. Instead she was sent by ambulance on a 25-mile journey in the middle of the night to Cavan General Hospital. On route she gave birth to a premature baby girl who died shortly afterwards.
The incident was the subject of three inquiries - one by the health board, one by the health board's medical adviser and another by an independent team appointed by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin. That team found Ms Livingstone should not have been transferred to Cavan.
The plaintiffs in the High Court action, which is being taken by Monaghan General Hospital Development Committee, are Ms Livingstone's sister, Ms Sharon O'Neill; local Sinn Féin councillor and mother of five, Ms Brenda McAnespic; Ms Shauna Tierney; and Ms Maura Sherlock.
The committee was involved in a High Court action in 1984 when the then minister for health, Mr Barry Desmond, threatened to discontinue obstetric, gynaecology and paediatric services at the hospital after a decision was taken to build a new general hospital in Cavan.
The High Court at that time held that the units could be closed, but the Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the minister, in proposing the closures, had acted outside his powers. It said he had no power under the 1970 Health Act to close a department of a hospital.
The present action began in 2001. At an initial hearing, the health board rejected the committee's assertion that it had been trying to run down the hospital since Mr Desmond's tenure as minister for health in the 1980s.
It said it temporarily suspended maternity services after a review found the provision of such services was no longer viable, based on recommendations from the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.