A Gynaecologist told the High Court yesterday it was her opinion there had been insufficient evidence to justify a Caesarian hysterectomy carried out on a young Co Louth woman.
Dr Mary Wingfield, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the National Maternity Hospital said Mrs Alison Gough told her she had been devastated by the operation performed on her in October 1992, when she was 27 years old, by Dr Michael Neary at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital, Drogheda.
Mrs Gough (now aged 37), of Ardee, has sued Dr Neary, of Fair Street, Drogheda, and the hospital, for negligence. The doctor and hospital claim the action is statute barred and deny Mrs Gough's claims.
Between 1990 and 1998, 17 women had undergone caesarean hysterectomies at the hospital, Dr Wingfield said. Of these, 74 per cent had required blood transfusions of 10 or more units and some of the women had needed as many as 26. All of these women had been on their second or subsequent baby and had suffered major complications. They were not straightforward low-risk pregnant women.
Dr Wingfield said she examined Mrs Gough in 1999 and noted she was very distressed. Mrs Gough said she had been devastated by the operation, which had caused her a lot of fear. She had fear of bleeding and it had shaken her whole sense of health and wellbeing. She was very concerned about her son.
She would not regard a loss of 1,500 mls as a "massive haemorrhage", Dr Wingfield said. One would have expected that someone in Mrs Gough's condition at pregnancy would be able to withstand a loss of 1,700 mls without problems.
Dr Anthony McCarthy, a consultant psychiatrist, said Mrs Gough appeared to have coped quite well until 1998 when there was a good deal of publicity [about Dr Neary\]. The effect had been catastrophic and there was a realisation of loss, of not having children in the future. Once it came out in the open she realised this need not or should not have happened.
Dr McCarthy believed Mrs Gough was distressed because she was "one of the early ones" and might have been able to do something about it. She felt guilty because maybe she could have done something different and maybe could have made some fuss. She was also confused. Dr Neary had said he saved her life and some people said she should send a card thanking him.
The more he got to know Mrs Gough, the more he felt she needed to tell her story. What was going to finally deal with her problem was what was happening in court - the legal process and the sense of justice, the sense of needing to speak publicly and to feel her wrong was recognised.
There was a considerable research base looking at people who perceived a major wrong had been done to them, and how to overcome that. For some, time was a healing factor. But many, particularly if a lot of people were involved, could not forget. For groups like that it was often the legal process - often derided and criticised - which might help.
He thought that six to 12 months after "this business is finally over", Mrs Gough should finally be much better. She would of course know she would never have another child but the real hurt, demonstrable over the past few days, would finally go away.