An obstetrician/gynaecologist who is being sued for damages over an operation to evacuate a dead foetus from a woman's womb had "to walk a tightrope", the High Court was told yesterday.
Dr Michael Turner, a consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist at the Coombe Hospital, Dublin, said that Dr Rachael Patton had wanted to get Ms Fiona Griffin's baby delivered but, if she went about it too quickly or aggressively, there was a strong possibility that she could have ruptured the uterus.
Ms Griffin, Estuary Walk, Ballynoe, Cobh, Co Cork, is suing Dr Patton, an obstetrician/gynaecologist at the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork, over an operation on January 23rd 1988 to evacuate a 17- week-old dead foetus from her womb. She has alleged part of the foetus was left within her. Dr Patton has denied negligence.
Yesterday, Dr Turner, who was called to give evidence on behalf of Dr Patton, said that a uterine rupture was a catastrophe for an obstetrician because a mother could die from it. While he was not aware of anyone having died in Ireland from such a rupture, there had been deaths in Britain following uterine rupture. In the Third World, it was one of the most common causes of maternal death.
If Ms Griffin was to become pregnant in the future, uterine rupture would become an issue, and this was a difficult challenge for a consultant to deal with. It called for great clinical skill and experience. On the one hand, Dr Patton had wanted Ms Griffin's baby delivered, but if this was pushed too hard, something could be precipitated which could put the mother's life at risk. This was medically a very difficult case.
Dr Turner believed that a hysterotomy, which has been described to the court as a minor caesarean section, would have been completely inappropriate.
This was an operation rarely performed by Irish obstetricians. He had never been confronted with a situation where he had to do such a procedure. It was also unusual outside Ireland and was being carried out less now than in the past.
Dr Turner said that nowadays there were some cases reported in other countries where gynaecologists did a hysterotomy to legally terminate a pregnancy. However, it was almost unheard of in a case where the baby had already died because it was of no benefit to the baby and could be of considerable risk to the mother.
Earlier, Dr Patton told the court that she had no recollection of crying after the operation.
The case continues today.