Press Release - AIMS Ireland
This past weekend, as the nation celebrated International
Women’s Day and Mother’s Day, an Irish Maternity Hospital initiated an invasive
procedure on a pregnant woman against her will. ‘Mother A’ was denied patient
autonomy and the right to informed refusal when the drastic and unprecedented
measure of an emergency High Court sitting was called in order to compel her to
undergo a Caesarian section. The risk of uterine rupture was cited as one of
the main reasons for the urgency in this case but this risk is widely reported
as being 0.1% or 1/1000. This is what Dr. Michael Turner, Obstetrician at the
Coombe Hospital has called: “exaggerated, professional scaremongering...and it
must stop”. (VBAC Conference, 2012)
State-sanctioned coercion of medical procedures on pregnant
women or any other competent adult is not only unacceptable but it is also
unlawful in other jurisdictions, such as the USA and the UK (Re AC [1990] &
Re S [1998]). ‘Informed consent’ and ‘informed refusal’ abuses are common
issues reported to AIMS Ireland by women.
Jene Kelly of AIMS Ireland states: “there is an
overwhelming acceptance by the public and some maternity service providers in
Ireland that a pregnant woman’s right to informed consent, or informed refusal,
is not reliable and that women who exert their rights are selfish. It is this
mentality that has allowed atrocities such as symphysiotomies, miscarriage
misdiagnoses, unnecessary hysterectomies by Dr Neary and all the other reported
assaults against women by our maternity system to continue to go unanswered in
Ireland for so long. This is no country for pregnant women. ”
AIMS Ireland reports that women who are bullied into consenting
do not fulfill the principles of informed consent and therefore are entitled to
sue the doctors for assault. For example, a woman who was forced to have a
caesarean section against her wishes in the UK sued the doctors (Ms S v St
George's NHS Hospital Trust, 1998) and was awarded £36,000 damages. It is time
that Irish women did the same. Threatening women, bringing women to the high
court, removing women’s rights and choices - these bullyboy tactics do not
promote trust between women and their care providers. How can you trust a
system that doesn’t acknowledge your rights? Women are choosing to leave the
system as a result.
Annette is one of these women. She is lobbying the HSE for a
homebirth following a previous Caesarean section. The HSE currently does not
recognize informed choice for homebirth for women who fall outside strict
exclusion criteria in site of a European Court of Human Rights ruling
recognizing a woman’s right to decide how and where she births. Annette does
not meet criteria following her previous Caesarean, despite having subsequent
successful vaginal births. Annette asks: “Is it HSE policy to use the High
Court as a method of intimidation and coercion, when a patient tries to
exercise her right to informed decision making, as laid out by the European
Court of Human Rights (Ternovsky v Hungary, Under Article 8)? We are humans,
with great intellect. We are capable of informed discussion and decisions
regarding our pregnancies and births in the best interests of ourselves, our
babies and our families. I feel anger, disappointment and bewilderment. Today
as a woman and mother, I grieve.”
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AIMS Ireland Press Contacts:
Jene Kelly 087 681 9095
Krysia Lynch 087 754 3751
Barbara Western 086 385 3344
AIMS Ireland is a consumer-led voluntary organisation that was
formed in early 2007 by women following their own experiences in the Irish
maternity system. Our mission is to highlight normal birth practices, which are
supported by evidence-based research and international best practices, and
campaign for recognition of maternal autonomy and issues surrounding informed
choice and informed refusal for women in all aspects of the maternity services;
from Caesarean section to homebirth. AIMSI campaigns on the grounds that birth
choice is a basic human right as declared at the International Conference of
Human Rights and Childbirth, “It is a fundamental human right for women to
choose the circumstances in which they give birth, with whom and where,
including a choice between hospital and home birth” and Article 8, European
Court of Human Rights
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