Redress proposal due for women who had symphysiotomies

Proposals aimed at bringing “closure” for women suffering the after-effects of symphysiotomies, the controversial childbirth procedure, are to be brought to Cabinet within weeks.

Minister for Health James Reilly is drawing up the proposals following receipt of a report from retired Circuit Court judge Yvonne Murphy on the options available for compensating more than 250 women who underwent the procedure.

Judge Murphy, who was asked last November to see how a compensation scheme could be structured, submitted her report in February. The Government has said it is willing to contribute to an ex gratia scheme similar in structure to that agreed for the former residents of Magdalene laundries.

However, the scheme is unlikely to go ahead without agreement by the insurance industry to contribute to its cost. About 80 per cent of the operations were performed in private hospitals.

Deceased women
Also to be decided is whether awards would be paid out in instalments or in a single lump sum, and whether payments would be made to the estates of deceased women.

A symphysiotomy involved cutting a pregnant woman’s pubic bone to widen the birth canal. Of the estimated 1,500 women who underwent the operation between the 1940s and 1980s, it is estimated that up to 300 survivors remain. They range in age from 47 to 91 years, but about half are aged over 80.

For many women the procedure left permanent injuries such as incontinence, difficulties walking and chronic pain.

The practice, which was first revealed to the wider public in The Irish Times in 1999, was rarely used in other European countries at the time when it was most prevalent in Ireland.

The Government is believed to be considering a redress scheme along the lines of the one agreed for former residents of Magdalene laundries last year. This provided for payments ranging from €11,500 to €100,000 to several hundred women.

Some symphysiotomy survivors have indicated they will accept such a scheme, which would not involve an admission of guilt or liability by the State, but the larger group of up to 300 women who are members of Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SoS) say a redress scheme is not acceptable.

Court settlement
SoS spokeswoman Marie O'Connor says no ex gratia scheme can meet the requirement for an effective remedy. Victims have a right to proper restitution, she adds.

Those cases that have made it to the court have resulted in settlements of €325,000 to €600,000, she points out, far higher than would be available under the redress scheme being contemplated by the Government. SoS is seeking settlements in the range of €250,000 to €400,000 for its members.

“These women have lifetimes of suffering and lost opportunities behind them. Whether it was horseriding, gymnastics or gardening, they could never do it again.

“It’s not unreasonable to insist that cases are treated as medical negligence,” Ms O’Connor says.

Statue of limitations
Last year, the Government indicated it would not oppose a cross-party private members' Bill to lift the statute of limitations for women seeking to take cases through the courts. However, it reversed its position after receiving legal advice that such a move could result in legal challenges by insurance firms on the basis that the State had "moved the goalposts" over cover.

Dr Reilly is also expected to publish the final report by Prof Oonagh Walsh on the practice of symphysiotomy in Ireland between the 1940s and 1980s, once the Government has agreed on a redress scheme.

Last March, SoS filed a complaint with the United Nations Committee on Torture in which it argued that symphysiotomies constituted torture and actions of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.