Parents’ group calls for reinstatement of doctor at centre of spinal surgery controversy

Parents of children with complex congenital and acquired limb deformities who require specialised surgeries have called for the “immediate reinstatement” of a consultant paediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Temple Street children’s hospital in Dublin.

OrthoKids Ireland, organised by parents of children under the care of Connor Green, said their children had been “waiting months” for life-saving treatment due to the surgeon’s absence.

Dr Green is the consultant at the centre of the spinal surgery controversy at Temple Street, run by Children’s Health Ireland (CHI). He was reported to the Irish Medical Council after CHI said it received reports raising concerns about the outcomes for patients operated on by him.

Dr Green, who ceased performing surgeries last year and has been on leave for the past five months, has so far declined offers to be interviewed or comment publicly.

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A number of reviews are ongoing into the alleged use of unauthorised springs not intended for surgical use in his young patients, as well as orthopaedic surgeries and governance and oversight at Temple Street.

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OrthoKids Ireland started an online petition, signed by more than 400 people within hours of going live, which calls on the council to “convene an emergency meeting” to review Dr Green’s case as he is the “only surgeon in Ireland with fellowship and training in reconstruction of limbs and bone dysplasia”.

The group claimed that, at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Cappagh, there were “over 100 children on a waiting list for procedures that only Connor can carry out”.

It said there were “over 50 children waiting for congenital limb reconstruction, bone dysplasia reconstruction and osteogenesis imperfecta” at Temple Street and that “at least 40 new referrals a year will join this waiting list due to Connor’s absence”.

The Irish Times has put the group’s wishes to Dr Green, but he declined to comment.

Diane Hodnett, a member of the group, said her daughter Julia (7) was “spared long-term life-impacting surgery” due to a specialised surgical intervention by Dr Green on one of her child’s limbs.

“Julia has been a patient of Mr Green since she was one years old, due to having a rare medical condition that required surgery, which could not be treated successfully by anyone else in Europe, and only by a handful of doctors globally,” Ms Hodnett said.

The group said the children involved required a “multitude of procedures” and currently had three options – their case being taken over by consultant and not being treated; being treated by surgeons not trained in the skills unique to Dr Green; or going abroad for treatment.

Martin O’Regan of OrthoKids Ireland said: “The Government will say that, under the National Treatment Purchase Fund, they could put our kids on planes for treatment abroad but the fact is a lot of these kids are not able to travel.”

The group said their children were living with “uncertainty and fear that the expected [positive] life-changing trajectory our children were on [with Mr Green] is now in abeyance, with potential life-altering consequences”.