Sir, – The fiction of Ireland's internationally outstanding record on low maternal mortality which Fintan O'Toole writes about ("Pro-life campaign needs to get its facts straight", August 2nd) was an open secret amongst our maternity hospitals, a secret which was finally exposed in 2007 by two doctors from the National Maternity Hospital. In a letter to the Irish Medical Journal, these senior clinicians begged for the "defective mechanisms" then being used to record maternal deaths to be replaced as a matter of urgency. Although this has since been done, there is no legislation to enforce an automatic inquest following a maternal death, merely a requirement of notification to the coroner's office.
Inquests for the women Fintan O’Toole cited who died between 2007 and 2013, and which also included Evelyn Flanagan and Nora Hyland, all ended in verdicts of medical misadventure. These inquests were hard fought for by families urgently seeking accountability from hospitals and the HSE as to what lay behind these deaths.
Between 2011-2013, there were 27 maternal deaths recorded for which only three inquests were held.
We urgently need legislation for automatic inquests to gain direct accountability about women who die as a result of being pregnant and giving birth. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KIVLEHAN,
FRANCIS CREAN,
STEPHEN HYLAND,
PADRAIC FLANAGAN,
SEAN ROWLETTE,
ABIOLA ADESINA,
Dr JO MURPHY-LAWLESS,
Dublin 2.