The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, is under pressure to establish an independent judicial inquiry into the activities of Drogheda obstetrician, Dr Michael Neary, after the Medical Council decided yesterday that he should be struck off the medical register. Liam Reid reports.
The council found him guilty of professional misconduct over the removing of wombs from 10 patients.
However the council has been criticised by former patients of Dr Neary over the delay in making its findings. A copy of the council report and findings are to be sent to Mr Martin. The council decision comes four and a half years after the first complaint was made against Dr Neary, who worked at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
More than 100 women have alleged he performed unnecessary Caesarean hysterectomies on them during a 20-year-period up to 1998. Their wombs were removed following childbirth in a procedure usually used only in an emergency where the mother's life is at risk from haemorrhaging.
A 1999 report commissioned by the North Eastern Health Board, which took over the hospital in the mid-1990s, found a normal rate for a hospital of Drogheda's size should have been one a year. The Caesarean hysterectomy rate at the hospital between 1996 and 1998 was nine per year.
The women have now called for an independent judicial inquiry and compensation tribunal, claiming there are many unanswered questions surrounding the case. This includes the disappearance of 30 women's files from Our Lady's Hospital, they said, and the delay in detecting the unusually high Caesarean hysterectomy rate - first highlighted by The Irish Times.
Last night a spokeswoman for Mr Martin said he intended to meet representatives of the women to discuss their wishes. He will also meet the Medical Council to discuss their findings, including a recommendation to examine the running of the obstetrics unit at the Drogheda hospital. The report also expresses the sorrow of the council to all of the women concerned.
Under council procedures, Dr Neary has 21 days in which to lodge an appeal against the findings, which were made following a full report of the council's Fitness to Practise Committee's investigations into the allegations.
At that stage the council intends to apply to the High Court for an order to have his name erased from the register of medical practitioners.
The council decision paves the way for at least 100 compensation claims, against the doctor and the State, with a potential cost, including legal fees, of more than €40 million. A total of 60 compensation claims are already before the courts.
Earlier this month the Supreme Court upheld a finding of negligence against Dr Neary in his treatment of Ms Alison Gough when she gave birth to her only child almost 11 years ago.
Dr Neary removed Ms Gough's womb, but the High Court found he could have carried out procedures that would have made this unnecessary.
While the Supreme Court appeal by Dr Neary and the hospital against the €273,223 award to Ms Gough was rejected, the court reduced the amount by €50,000.
Despite the findings of the Medical Council inquiry, representatives of the women are highly critical of the council over the time it has taken to make its findings.
"There are four scandals in this," said Ms Sheila O'Connor of Patient Focus, which represents the 100 women who have come forward so far.
"The first is why did this happen for so long and nobody noticed? The second is that a third of the files on the cases are missing. The third is that the Medical Council took so long before striking him off, and the fourth is that the minister let them."
Calls for an independent inquiry were backed by Opposition TDs, including Fine Gael's spokeswoman on health, Ms Olivia Mitchell and Sinn Féin's Mr Caoimhighín Ó Caoláin.