A parent whose child was three years old when they had hip dysplasia surgery has now received clinical confirmation that the surgery was unnecessary, Mary Lou McDonald has told the Dáil.
The Sinn Féin leader raised the case as she told Taoiseach Micheál Martin it was the first confirmation they had received of unnecessary surgery and asked if there were “hundreds or more” such cases.
She said the party is being contacted daily by parents in distress and asking themselves “the gut-wrenching question ‘was my child one of those operated on unnecessarily’ “.
Ms McDonald also understood the audit into the controversy over hip dysplasia surgeries at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) was finalised as she highlighted a number of cases in relation to the controversy.
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The Taoiseach said Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill had not yet received the final report of the audit and it would be “unacceptable” to comment on a piecemeal case-by-case basis. He acknowledged it was “frustrating”, but they had to wait for the full audit.
Ms McDonald said one parent who contacted them said “their child was only three when they had surgery and this is the first parent to tell me that they have now received clinical confirmation that their child didn’t need the operation performed on them at a CHI hospital three years ago.
“This parent has now been told by a surgeon having reviewed the scans from three years ago that their child’s hips were fine. The surgeon says they would not have performed the surgery.”
She added: “This parent is absolutely devastated, Taoiseach. She told me that she can’t believe what’s happened. She describes it as like a horror film.”
Another mother said “her son had his left hip operated on in 2018 but was told his right hip was fine. He was called back, however, in 2021 and told that the right hip did, in fact require surgery despite displaying no issues. So, she took the medical advice.
“She describes this as a devastating decision. She tells us her son’s life deteriorated dramatically following this operation. He now suffers serious health developmental complications and catastrophic consequences from the surgery. The mother is overwhelmed thinking that her child’s surgery might not have been needed at all.”
They were also contacted by a parent who received a letter following their child’s surgery in 2010. “That’s 15 years ago. The child is now a 20-year-old adult. So does this scandal, does this issue go back that far?”
The Taoiseach said “it is extremely serious situation which has necessitated an external review and for any child to go through surgery is, in of itself, a trauma”.
It was also a trauma for parents. “But if it emerges that children went through surgery that was not required in the first instance, that’s not only very traumatic in itself, it is a scandal in itself.”
CHI and Cappagh had issued letters in recent weeks “to families who may have concerns”.
Feedback on the draft report had been received “by the expert author and is being reviewed”. The audit process “is in its final stages”.
Mr Martin said: “We simply have to assemble all of the facts in a comprehensive basis, await the outcomes of the clinical audit and then decide on actions resulting from the outcome of that.”
