Tell Ireland to Stop Obstructing Justice for Symphysiotomy Victims
Published: Thursday, April 04, 2013
Symphysiotomy is a crippling surgical procedure involving the forcible breaking of the pelvis during childbirth. Meant for only extreme cases, it has been replaced by Caesarean section, except in countries where this procedure is unavailable.
But as disabled Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) are now revealing, the practice continued in some Irish hospitals until 1984, and in some cases made no sense at all. One survivor testified that the procedure, which is meant to aide only obstructed labor, was used when she delivered a child that weighed only four pounds.
SOS chairperson Marie O' Connor says the operations were 'covert' and 'performed without consent,' and she sees symphysiotomy as the 'biggest human rights scandal in Ireland.' The government has stonewalled' survivors, she adds, forcing them to resort to courts that impose statutes of limitation on their claims.
Tell the Irish government to lift the statute bar to allow all symphysiotomy victims access to the courts.