The Medical Council believes the Minister for Health will agree to its call for a further inquiry into events surrounding the removal by Dr Michael Neary of the wombs of several patients, its president said yesterday.
Patient Focus, representing many of the affected women, also said a public inquiry into events at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, where Dr Neary performed a large number of Caesarean hysterectomies, remained its bottom line.
"The main thing now is to establish what went on at the hospital and why," Ms Sheila O'Connor of Patient Focus said. Issues about the conduct of midwives and anaesthetists were among those which must be addressed.
She welcomed the Medical Council's call for a system of competence assurance within the profession but said the council should not be the sole policing agent of the profession and there must be a system where patients could bring complaints to an independent arbitrator of medical competence. She continued to be inundated with complaints about medical professionals.
She said the affected women were very pleased with yesterday's High Court confirmation of the decision of the Medical Council to strike Dr Neary from the medical register following a finding of the council's fitness to practise committee that he was guilty of misconduct in relation to the removal of the wombs of 10 patients.
"Everyone is pleased, it would be a horror of horrors if Dr Neary were to practise medicine again." On the finding that there was no evidence to justify any demonisation or vilification of Dr Neary, she said that while his conduct was clearly unacceptable, no one had wished to demonise or vilify him.
Later yesterday, a Medical Council delegation met the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, and Department officials to discuss issues arising from the Dr Neary case.
Prof Gerard Bury, president of the council, described the meeting as "very positive".
The Minister was clearly seriously concerned about the matters raised and very responsive to the council's call for further exploration, through an inquiry or other means, of the context of the events at Our Lady's Hospital.
The council was "pushing an open door" in terms of that proposal, he believed.
Prof Bury said the council delegation had pressed for urgent reform of the Medical Practitioners Act 1978 and had been assured an entirely new A ct was a priority.
The need for immediate competence assurance within the medical profession was strongly urged, he added. While they were given no assurance of immediate reforms in that regard, they were happy the Minister was taking the matter seriously.
Competence assurance could be linked to the contracts of individual doctors, Prof Bury said. He proposed a scheme where contracts would not be renewed unless certain standards were met.
Prof Bury said the finding by the fitness to practise committee that there was no evidence to justify any demonisation or vilification of Dr Neary did not mean his conduct was in any way acceptable and he found it personally "distasteful" to share his profession with a person like Dr Neary.
A summary of the report of the council's fitness to practise committee, together with a summary document dealing with the case of each patient involved, will be circulated to those patients today.
On Friday, the same documents will be published. The full transcript of the hearings will be released at a later stage.
