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Obstetrician found guilty of professional misconduct
A WELL-known consultant obstetrician, who failed to send a patient with a potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy for treatment, has been found guilty of professional misconduct. Dr Patrick (Gerry)...
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Irish obstetricians have heavier workload
Irish obstetricians deliver more than twice as many babies as their counterparts in Britain and Northern Ireland, figures from national health authorities show. Obstetricians performed over 120 per...
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Obstetricians challenge Boylan inquest evidence
All obstetric units in Ireland need to reflect on the findings of the inquest into Ms Halappanavar’s death and learn how to improve care for pregnant women, the eight obstetricians and three other...
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Obstetricians on Savita Halappanavar inquest
The facts as produced at the inquest show this tragic case to be primarily about the management of sepsis, and Dr Boylan’s opinion on the effect of Irish law did not appear to be shared by the coroner,...
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Caesarean rate higher in private care
Elective Caesarean sections are far more common among pregnant women who attend private consultants than among mothers delivering in the public health system, according to research. The rate of...
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Iodine crucial for pregnant women
Research, reported in The Lancet, from Surrey and Bristol universities, led by Margaret Rayman of the University of Surrey, used samples and data from Bristol-based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents...
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Too posh to push? : Times editorial
Reasons cited for the rise in Caesarean section rates include more older women having babies, better detection of foetal distress and the late presentation of some pregnant women. However, a rising...
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40 births a day leave National Maternity Hospital struggling to cope
Pressure faced by the hospital, which is struggling to cope in an outdated building in Holles Street in Dublin, is outlined in a report by the master, Dr Rhona Mahony. Dr Mahony’s report points out...
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Doctors need to know when they can intervene
“We need something in place where, if I’m a consultant, I know that no one can point the finger at me for carrying out a termination,” said UK-based obstetrician Prof Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran....
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Woman challenges refusal to allow home birth
A mother has challenged a refusal by the HSE to allow her have a home birth for her second child. Yesterday the High Court heard the woman, who is 24 weeks pregnant, is being prevented from giving...
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Obstetricians criticise Walsh abortion speech
Obstetricians have intervened in the row over Fianna Fail Senator Jim Walsh’s graphic description of abortion procedures in the Seanad this week. The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said...
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Home birth midwife Ann Ó Ceallaigh: claims ideological opposition to home...
After 16 years of battling against the medical establishment, numerous trips to the High and Supreme Courts, a few notable triumphs and a final crushing defeat, home birth midwife Ann Ó Ceallaigh is...
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Independent editorial: Women’s voices must be heard on home births
Ireland has chronically low levels of home births, less than 1pc, compared to 2.5pc in the UK and 20pc in the Netherlands. That rate says much about the dominant medical culture. But it is a prevailing...
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Pregnant women fare better under midwife-led care – study
Women who receive continuous care from midwives throughout pregnancy and birth fare better than women cared for by a combination of obstetricians, GPs and midwives, according to a new study to be...
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More senior medics needed on labour wards ‘to cut cases of cerebral palsy’
Dr Sam Coulter-Smith, master of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, said the incidence of babies with cerebral palsy had not reduced in the past 20 years despite the increase in foetal monitoring and...
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Mount Carmel makes senior appointments
Mount Carmel Hospital in Dublin says Prof Sean Daly and Dr Michael O’Connell, both consultants at the Coombe Women’s Hospital, have joined its obstetrician and consultant team. The move bolsters Mount...
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Concern over drug used before birth
Solicitors argued that the medical team continued to administer Syntocinon, a form of artificial oxytocin used to speed up delivery, when it should have been stopped because the foetal heartbeat was...
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Coroner recommends drawing up guidelines for use of drugs in difficult...
A coroner has recommended the drawing-up of guidelines for maternity units to govern the use of drugs used to speed up difficult deliveries. Co Laois coroner Eugene O’Connor said he was surprised there...
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Mater hospital to comply with legislation
The Mater Hospital in Dublin has said it will comply with the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. In a brief statement issued yesterday the hospital said it would comply with the Act, which...
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Sam Coulter Smith raises concerns over whether report will be acted on
The master of the Rotunda Hospital has said he is concerned about the extent to which the Health and Information and Quality Authority report into the death of Savita Halappanvar will be acted on,...
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