Survivors of symphysiotomy call for inquiry into ‘wide-awake surgery’

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Monday August 16, 2010 22:49 by Marie O Connor - Survivors of Symphysiotomy

‘“Whistleblower” exposed a hospital world of cover up and concealment that is still with alive. Symphysiotomy was as much an institutional abuse as invountary sterilisation. Survivors of symphysiotomy have called upon the Government to initiate an independent inquiry into these childbirth operations on the grounds that they amounted to medical malpractice.

Speaking on behalf of SOS, Marie O Connor said: ‘Patient safety is still taking second place to misplaced collegiality. The last decade has been one of denial in relation to symphysiotomy. Based on misleading advice from the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Minister for Health has four times refused to hold an independent inquiry into the practice. Yet, whatever the Institute may pretend, symphysiotomy was an abuse of medical authority. These
operations were rarely carried out on the grounds of medical necessity’.

‘Symphysiotomy is an 18th c. birth operation that unhinges the pelvis, splitting the pubic joint and its ligaments. Doctors also appear to have practiced pubiotomy, a related operation that severs the bone rather than the joint, and results in a compound fracture of the pelvis. The consequences for mothers were usually horrendous and lifelong.’

Ireland is the only country in the developed world that practiced these mutilating operations in the 20th century.

The SOS Press and Public Relations Officer underlined the cruel nature of these operations: ‘The surgery was generally performed wide-awake in the labour ward: women were then required to labour for as long as it took to give birth vaginally, despite being in excruciating pain, and labours of 24-48 hours were not uncommon. Caesarean section was withheld in order to ensure vaginal birth.’

She explained why doctors chose to sever the pelvis rather than perform a Caesarean: ‘Long discarded on account of its dangers, symphysiotomy was rescued from oblivion at Holles St Hospital by Catholic doctors who were strongly opposed to birth control. For a doctor to carry out a Caesarean section on a woman was to limit the size of her family. Once a Caesarean, always a Caesarean: this was the medical rule and four was the upper safety limit. So Caesarean was
associated with family planning, particularly sterilisation.’

‘Symphysiotomy, on the other hand, was the gateway to a large family. Obstetricians cut the joint or the bone over the birth canal, permanently widening the pelvis to facilitate unlimited childbearing by performing a procedure that they hoped would ensure a lifetime of vaginal births.’

At least 1 500 of these mutilating operations were carried out across the State from 1944-84. The operation carried a high death rate for babies, while pelvic pain, walking difficulties and bladder injuries were among its known risks for mothers.

‘For the vast majority of our members, symphysiotomy has been a life sentence without remission.’

ENDS

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Marie O'Connor SOS Press and Public Relations Officer
Author: 'EMERGENCY: Irish hospitals in chaos'