WUNRN
Al Jazeera - Video
Ireland's Women
Symphysiotomy Victims Speak Out - Video
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Survivors
of Symphysiotomy (SoS) in Ireland have long battled for truth and justice, yet
the authorities still persist in defending these involuntary operations.
Symphysiotomy
is a cruel and dangerous childbirth operation that unhinges the pelvis,
severing the symphysis joint or sundering the pubic bones. Ireland was the only
developed country in the world to practice these childbirth procedures in the
mid to late 20th century.
At
least 1,500 of these 18th century operations were performed here from 1942
onwards, mostly in Catholic private hospitals. Around 200 women survive
today, many of them permanently disabled, incontinent and in pain. Some babies
died or were brain damaged, or otherwise injured during the process.
These
operations were illegal: doctors ignored their legal obligations to seek
patient consent. Some women were operated upon without their knowledge or
consent under general anaesthetic during pregnancy or even after the birth of a
baby by Caesarean section. But most were left for many hours in labour before
being set upon by hospital staff, and operated upon without their permission.
The
Dublin doctors who revived symphysiotomy were driven by a determination to
control women’s reproductive health. They simply saw symphysiotomy as a gateway
to unlimited childbearing, unlike Caesarean section, the norm for
difficult births in Ireland since the end of the 1930s.
These
doctors saw Caesarean section as a ‘moral hazard’ that capped family size and
led to the ‘evil’ of family planning: they preferred to break women’s pelvises
instead. Women were also used as ‘clinical material’, to train medical staff
for developing countries, and as guinea pigs, to perfect the surgery for
Ireland, and for use in missionary hospitals overseas owned by religious
congregations.
Hospital
reports detailing these abusive operations were ignored. No person or agency
has ever been held to account. Briefs prepared by the Department of Health
continue to this day to reflect the myths propagated by the Obstetricians and
Gynecologists. The Irish body still claims that symphysiotomy was performed for
medical reasons and that it was ‘safer’ than Caesarean section.
Those
who have lived with having their pelvises broken during childbirth know better.
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Full Irish Examiner Story: http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/my-life-was-ruined-by-symphysiotomy-275544.html
MY LIFE WAS RUINED BY SYMPHYSIOTOMY
July 16, 2014 - By Ann Cahill
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