Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also thank Deputy Ó Caoláin for all of his work. I am pleased the Minister for Health has agreed to accept this Bill and I welcome his assurance that the Government is committed to dealing with this issue sensitively so that it can be brought to an appropriate and fair conclusion for all women affected. I also welcome the women who have suffered surgical symphysiotomy to the Visitors Gallery tonight, as well as their relatives and friends.

However, I wish to raise the issue of spontaneous symphysiotomy. I have recently been contacted by two ladies who had a spontaneous symphysiotomy during childbirth and I am aware that there is a small cohort of women suffering pain and disability similar to that suffered by the women here tonight. Spontaneous symphysiotomy occurs naturally during childbirth and these women have suffered too. Spontaneous symphysiotomies are more commonplace where a mother is giving birth to a large baby. Sometimes their occurrence is unavoidable but in other instances they are a result of a failure on the part the medical profession to predict the threat and to perform a caesarean section. Most women make a full recovery in six to ten weeks but two women contacted my office recently who were left in agony after not having their spontaneous symphysiotomy acknowledged and treated. Both women provided me with a terrifying narrative of their treatment during pregnancy. Their pain was disregarded, ignored and belittled by their doctors. They were fobbed off and told to get over it. Both ladies are on crutches and some of the time, in wheelchairs. They genuinely feel that an attempt was made to silence their request for medical notes. They have been asked to jump through hoops in order to get an account of what happened to them during childbirth. It is imperative that spontaneous symphysiotomy is properly diagnosed, acknowledged and appropriate treatment provided. It is only humane that Government would extend the entitlement to medical cards and other resources to such women.

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