The Fitness to Practise Committee of the Medical Council is to begin a full inquiry into a complaint against another obstetrician at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, later this week.
The hearing of the complaint made against Dr Finian Lynch is scheduled to take place tomorrow and Friday.
The complaint was made to the Medical Council about Dr Lynch, who is still working at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, shortly after allegations surfaced in late 1998 about his former colleague, Dr Michael Neary, who was struck off the medical register last year for unnecessarily removing the wombs of 10 patients.
A woman who had been treated by Dr Lynch contacted Patient Focus at that time alleging that her womb and ovaries were also unnecessarily removed when she attended the hospital for a urinary procedure in 1995.
She made a formal complaint to the Medical Council early in 1999. However, she heard nothing from the council for well over a year, and it later emerged that the council had lost her letter of complaint.
The council wrote to the woman about a year ago apologising for the loss of her letter, and informing her it would look at her complaint.
Now, having examined preliminary issues, the council's Fitness to Practise Committee has decided to hold a full inquiry into the woman's allegation. The woman complainant has been called to give evidence.
It is understood Dr Lynch will contest the allegations against him. He did not reply to a message left for him at the hospital yesterday.
The inquiry into allegations against Dr Neary took years, but it is expected this one will be swift given that the present Medical Council ends its five-year term in April.