This article is from page 11 of the 2014-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
DETAILS of the life and medical history of Ballyvaughan woman Ellen Moore will be heard by the United Nations Committee Against Torture next week, following the unanimous decision of the Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) group to reject a last gasp compensation offer made by the Irish Government last week.
Ellen, who was given a symphysiotomy without her knowledge or consent while giving birth to her first son in September of 1965, has been actively campaigning for recognition of the wrongs done to the hundreds of Irish women who were given symphysiotomies in the 1960s and 1970s.
In March of this year it was announced that her case would be one of a number of case studies sent forward to the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
The SOS move to take the case to the UN came after months of discussions and lobbying with the Irish Government.
With the UN hearing just days away, the Government made a compensation offer to sufferers last week. This offer was unanimously rejected at two survivor meeting in Dublin and Cork last week and the UN hearing is now set to go ahead on July 14.
The SOS spokesperson, Marie O’Connor, has called on the Government to admit that all symphysiotomies done in Irish hospitals were wrong.
“Truth has been the main casualty today. The official lie, that symphysiotomy was acceptable medical practice, continues,” she said.
“The Government has never admitted that these operations were negligent and that they should never have been done. All symphysiotomies were wrong, not only those done in the aftermath of a C-section.”
After meeting with Mrs Moore and other members of the Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) group last October, the Health Minister, James O’Reilly (FG), agreed to lift the stature of limitation involving symphysiotomy and allow sufferers to gain compensation through the courts. The minister also agreed to release the second half of the Walsh Report, which probed the use of symphysiotomies in Irish hospitals. Neither of these promises have, to date, been kept.