This is a very important matter for the State, the medical profession, the north east and, in particular, the approximately 35 women who are the subject of this matter. I am speaking on behalf of my Fianna Fáil and Government colleagues. I include the Acting Chairman, Deputy Johnny Brady, who was chairperson of the patient focus support group in the Oireachtas. I also include Deputies Sargent, O'Brien and my Fianna Fáil colleagues from the north east who have played a strong role in the group over many years.
The issue surrounding the plight of these women is well described at the beginning of the report of Judge Maureen Harding Clark, known as the Lourdes Hospital Inquiry. It states:
1.1 In September 2003 Dr. Michael Neary, a well respected, busy and popular consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, was struck off the Medical Register following a lengthy hearing before the Fitness to Practise Committee of the Irish Medical Council.
1.2 This action was the culmination of a series of investigations carried out by the management of the hospital at which Dr. Neary worked, the North Eastern Health Board (the owners of the Lourdes Hospital since 1997, in succession to the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMMs)), the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Ireland and finally the Fitness to Practise Committee of the Irish Medical Council. The process started in late October 1998. Two midwives working at the Maternity Unit of the Lourdes Hospital reported that it was their perception that Dr. Neary was carrying out an unusual number of Caesarean hysterectomies and that some of his clinical practices were perceived as being out of date. Initial investigations confirmed that there was substance in the allegation that Dr. Neary had carried out a number of Caesarean hysterectomies, some of them on very young women.
A cross-party group of Deputies, the Oireachtas patient focus support group, has met since these events emerged in the late 1990s. It regularly met former patients of Dr. Neary. This was long before I was elected.
A redress scheme for the victims of Dr. Neary was brought into operation by the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, in April 2007. The scheme, by its very terms of reference, sets out the categories of patients who were to be covered by it. The terms of reference state:
Women who had any of the operations hereinafter listed carried out by Dr. Neary at the Hospital may apply to the Board for an ex gratia payment, in respect of such operation, and for payment of certain legal or medical outlays:
A. An unplanned obstetric hysterectomy which in the opinion of a consultant obstetrician was medically unwarranted.
B. In association with an obstetric hysterectomy, an unplanned bilateral oophorectomy or removal of remaining single functioning ovary where such oophorectomy was in the opinion of a consultant obstetrician medically unwarranted.
C. An unplanned obstetric hysterectomy where the woman's relevant Hospital Records are unobtainable.
D. In association with recent pregnancy, a D&C. (dilatation and curettage) or ERPC (evacuation of retained products of conception) or EUA (examination under anaesthetic) followed, or substituted by, an unplanned hysterectomy where such hysterectomy was in the opinion of a consultant obstetrician medically unwarranted.
E. [Critically] A bilateral oophorectomy or removal of remaining single functioning ovary performed while the Applicant was under 40 years and which has rendered her immediately menopausal and where in the opinion of a consultant gynaecologist such oophorectomy was medically unwarranted.
The redress scheme, therefore, by its terms of reference, excluded many of the former patients of Dr. Neary, who can only be described as victims. I refer to a category of ladies over 40 at the time of their operation and mothers who, tragically, lost babies through the fault of the Dr. Neary.
At the announcement of the redress scheme, the Minister stated the women excluded from the terms of reference would be referred to the State Claims Agency. It is out of this commitment from the Minister that our cross-party group had to continue its work after the election of 2007. This commitment was not adhered to.
Our cross-party group has followed up on this commitment. We had a meeting the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, who referred the matter to Judge Harding Clark, who apparently advised that the terms of reference were not to be extended. We then wrote to An Taoiseach, who accepted the Minister's position.
Our group has never sought political advantage for its individual members or generated publicity for itself. It has generally worked for these women, and I want to highlight the support of Members of the Fianna Fáil and Government colleagues for that. I apologise for rushing, but I wanted to put those references on the record.
