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Friday 23 October 2020
Last week 399 women who had the procedure were awarded up to €150,000 in compensation – but almost a third of applicants to the scheme were rejected.
“The sons and daughters of these women feel that their mothers’ suffering never received any acknowledgment or recognition.”
Here’s everything you need to know as you start your day.
However Marie O’Connor, spokesperson for a symphysiotomy group, described the grants as “an official whitewash”.
Women who submitted their own medical records did so in the belief that they would be returned. So what’s gone wrong, asks Dr Vicky Conway.
The move comes after symphysiotomy survivors objected to an online notice warning them that unclaimed medical records would be destroyed.
Symphysiotomy survivors are urging the state’s redress scheme not to go ahead with plans to destroy unclaimed medical documents.
Campaigners for survivors of the procedure say this is “symptomatic of the ongoing absence of effective remedies” for other women in her situation.
A symphysiotomy case settled in the High Court for undisclosed fee
The case currently being heard in the High Court is the first of its kind against a hospital.
The woman is taking a case against the Coombe Hospital, which denies all charges.
There has been some difficulty in those who underwent the procedure accessing their medical records.
The scheme has been criticised by some advocates for symphysiotomy survivors.
The terms the Government is offering are flawed and “oppressive” according to survivors.
Women have 20 days to sign up the redress scheme.
The government has announced a redress scheme today. Here are the victims’ stories.
That’s according to a survivors group SOS, which describes its time limits as “draconian”.
The three deaths have occurred since the scheme was announced in July.
Everyone’s talking about the Oscar Pistorius verdict, staff at University Hospital Galway being disciplined and Leo Varadkar responding to criticism from the Taoiseach.
The UN human rights committee said Ireland should identify, prosecute and punish those responsible for the procedures without patient consent.
The Minister for Justice said that the Government would continue to help and support victims of symphysiotomy.
The human rights committee also said that those who carried out the procedures without consent should be prosecuted, where possible.
The UN criticised Ireland’s abortion laws and lambasted the State for failing “to assign any accountability” to issues like Magdalene Laundries, mother-and-baby homes, child abuse and symphysiotomy.
The Justice Minister defended the State redress scheme for survivors of symphysiotomy at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva today.
Noreen Burns, 83, was subjected to a symphysiotomy after her child was born by Caesarean Section in 1959.
There are currently up to 300 survivors alive today.
Plus: How many Irish students say they’re not having sex?
There will be no closure with money – only with finding out where their child’s remains are.
The Government has said that the payments will be ex-gratia – in other words, no blame admitted.
Good morning! Here are the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day.
The procedure, that left many woman with lifelong disabilities, was carried out in Ireland until the late 1980s.
A survivors group is accusing the Government of “hollowness”.
Everyone’s been talking about Ian Bailey, John Joe Nevin, and MH370…
There are now two reports about the issue on James Reilly’s desk – but neither has been published.
The survivors have brought their search for justice to the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
Reliance on ex gratia redress schemes should be read against a backdrop of Government reluctance to allow these victims – and others like them – to speak on their own terms about the recent past, writes Máiréad Enright.
Magdalene survivors, symphysiotomy campaigns and UNCAT criticism of abortion guidelines…this is the year that was.
The government’s u-turn on the lifting of the statute of limitations for one year, to facilitate legal action for the women, has been described as “appalling”.
Good morning! Here are nine things you want to know as you start your day.
Good morning! Here are nine things you want to know as you start your day.
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump and former vice president Joe Biden took part in another debate last night, the final head-to-head before voting on 3 November.
The previous debate was fractious and almost unwatchable as the pair shouted over each other, but last night was more measured by comparison.
Trump denied being racist, saying no US president since Abraham Lincoln has “done what I’ve done for the black community”. Biden then said Trump “pours fuel on every single racist fire” and claimed he “has a dog whistle about as big as a fog horn”.
You can catch up on the main points here.
Did you stay up to watch the debate, or catch highlights this morning?
If you did, we want to know: Who won last night’s US election debate?
Poll Results:
Share your story: voices@thejournal.ie
Showers around in the morning; some sun
Max: 11 °C
Min: 7 °C
Cloudy and windy with a little rain
Max: 12 °C
Min: 6 °C
Mainly cloudy, showers around; breezy
Max: 11 °C
Min: 7 °C
