Wednesday’s Top Stories: Temple Street spinal surgery review widened; death of man in Macroom treated as suspicious

Temple Street hospital spinal surgery review widened to 17 more ‘cases of concern’

Completion of an independent review into spinal surgeries at Temple Street children’s hospital has been delayed after 17 additional “cases of concern” were identified.

The decision by the UK expert carrying out the review to include further cases in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh means the number of children’s surgeries under investigation has effectively doubled.

Last September, the HSE commissioned Selvadurai Nayagam, a consultant in orthopaedics and trauma at Royal Liverpool children’s hospital, to review surgeries carried out by a Temple Street surgeon. This came after internal reviews identified serious spinal surgical incidents, including the death of one child and others with serious post-operative complications. It then emerged that unauthorised springs had been used in three patients.

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