A Medical Council inquiry into allegations that a consultant obstetrician in Drogheda performed unnecessary Caesarean hysterectomies has still not been completed more than two years after it began.
Dr Michael Neary was yesterday found by the High Court to have unnecessarily removed the womb of a Co Louth woman less than an hour after she gave birth by Caesarean section to her first child in 1992.
The court awarded Ms Alison Gough (37), of Market House Lane, Ardee, just over €273,000.
Ms Gough, in succeeding in her action against Dr Neary and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital - which was taken over from the Medical Missionaries of Mary by the North-Eastern Health Board in 1997 - opens the way for other similar actions.
The health board has confirmed that 65 legal actions are being taken by women who have made allegations against Dr Neary. It faces a multi-million-euro payout if the actions succeed.
The advocacy group Patient Focus wants the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to establish a judicial inquiry into the numbers of Caesarean hysterectomies carried out at the hospital over a 20-year period from the late 1970s.
It also wants a compensation tribunal to assess damages for the women affected.
A spokeswoman for the Minister said that he could not intervene until the inquiry by the Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Committee was completed.
The inquiry began in October 2000, more than 1½ years after the council went to the High Court to have Dr Neary suspended from the medical register.
Court report: page 4;
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