SURVIVORS OF Symphysiotomy (SOS) have welcomed yesterday’s Supreme Court judgment clearing the way for a woman to sue a hospital over an allegedly unnecessary symphysiotomy procedure carried out on her when she was having her first baby in 1969 at the age of 18.
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda had sought to dismiss the claim by Olivia Kearney of Milestown, Castlebellingham, Co Louth, on grounds that doctors involved were now deceased.
SOS spokeswoman Marie O’Connor said: “This decision now clears the way for a longstanding case . . . to go to trial.”
Giving the court’s judgment, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman said if the case had remained in the condition it was before the High Court, the Supreme Court might well have agreed with that court’s assessment.
However, it had not remained the same as Ms Kearney had argued before the Supreme Court there was no justification for carrying out a symphysiotomy “in any circumstances”, not just on the basis it was improper given the prevailing conditions in 1969.
This reformulation of the case before the Supreme Court meant the hospital could fight the action for damages on a hypothetical basis, he said. It would not therefore require the evidence of the now deceased surgeon, anaesthetist or other medical staff.