Justice sought for victims of ‘barbaric’ procedure

A BALLYVAUGHAN victim of a “barbaric” symphysiotomy has urged the Government to provide justice to over 200 other survivors as quickly as possible.

 

Ellen Moore, who has been living in the North Clare village for the last 12 years, joined 201 other victims in the Dáil on Tuesday and Wednesday night to hear a debate on a cross-party Private Members’ Bill.

The proposed legislation, which sets aside the Statute of Limitations for one year, would allow women who had their pelvises unnecessarily broken during childbirth to seek redress through the courts.

The legislation was introduced in the Dáil by Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who was the convenor of a cross-party group of TDs working on the issue.

While Ms Moore gave a guarded welcome to the Government’s commitment after a 10-year campaign, she stressed it is vital any new redress would not be dragged out in the interests of all survivors.

She lamented the fact that at least 1,300 women, including two in the last six months, have died without getting an opportunity for redress, considering some medical records didn’t record this procedure.

“Money will not take away the pain I have suffered. This is about someone telling me what happened to me and saying we are sorry, this should never have happened. No one has taken responsibility for it.

“Symphysiotomy was banned around the world and was brought back to Holles Street Maternity Hospital in Dublin in 1940 for what reason?” she asked.

Her late mother, Kathleen, had 15 children and never spent time in hospital afterwards and couldn’t understand why her daughter had problems after her first child was born.

Ms Moore knew something bad happened after the birth of her first child, David, 48, on September 27, 1967 in a Midlands hospital. Although it left her incontinent, she thought this is what happens to women until she saw a re-enactment of symphysiotomy on Prime Time Investigates in 2010.

She contacted the SOS group and realised there was a name for what had happened to her. “I had no reason not to trust these people. I went in at 6am in the morning in labour. At 6pm there was a commotion, I was taken into a labour ward.

“I remember lights flashing. Someone came up with a mask and I heard him saying ‘hold her by the shoulders’. Someone else said ‘put her up in stirrups’. I didn’t know what was happening. At 7.30pm my husband rang me to say we had a baby boy.

“I know I didn’t have a C section. It was and still is a dreadful time for me,” she recalled.

“I suppose I was naive and a little ignorant, as women were only starting to go to hospital to have children in the 1960s. I am living with the consequences of that night since then,” she added.

When she was expecting her second baby, she was sent by her GP to a surgeon, who took her down to theatre and told her she needed major surgery in a Dublin hospital.

Since 1969 she has endured 20 surgeries relating to the procedure and has been in and out of hospital for most of her married life.

“I have to wear a colostomy bag for the rest of my days. You have to live with the stigma of the bag; it curtails your life. I had to have it done four times. It will never be done again. I am full of adhesions because of all the surgery. When they come, you want to go to bed, curl up and die. I plead with my husband, ‘don’t get the doctor, leave me alone’.

“The pain is dreadful. Even lying down at night doesn’t relieve the pain. My life was crippled by it,” she said.

The last time Ms Moore tried to work was in 1985 and she had to give up altogether. She said it was embarrassing, as she couldn’t tell her colleagues she had to go into hospital for another operation.

A native of Edenderry, Offaly, she lived in Shannon from 1980. Her children, Alice, Irene, Bobby and Stephen, are still living in Shannon, while David resides in Quin. They have been very supportive all their lives.

She moved to Ballyvaughan village 12 years ago with her husband, Mike, who is a retired soldier and they live near his brother, Liam. She has nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.