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A GROUP REPRESENTING symphysiotomy survivors has called on the government’s redress scheme to reconsider its decision to destroy unclaimed medical records.
A notice posted on the payment scheme’s website earlier this month advised applicants that they have until 29 February to request that the documents they submitted for assessment be returned to them.
The notice said the scheme will assume applicants who have not made contact by this date are happy to have their documents shredded when its work is complete.
Applicants who received legal assistance were assured, however, that their solicitor will have the originals of all documents sent to assessors.
The scheme said all original birth certificates will also be returned once assessments have been made.
However, a group representing women who were subjected to the controversial procedure has now called on the Data Protection Commissioner to intervene in the matter.
Valuable records
Marie O’Connor of Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) says the records were entrusted to the scheme on the understanding that they would eventually be returned.
“Instead of destroying these valuable records, we appeal to the assessor to return them by post to all applicants, as the scheme undertook to do,” she says.
The terms of the scheme state that “the assessor shall, where reasonably possible, arrange for the return to the applicant or her solicitor” of any submitted documents.
The assessor also has the power, however, to “arrange for the destruction of confidential documentation and information whether in documentary or electronic form” once the scheme is concluded.
But O’Connor believes the scheme should have gone to greater efforts to ensure applicants see the return of their documents – some of which are original, decades-old hospital and GP files.
She says that there was “much anger and outrage” among members of the group at the planned destruction of unclaimed records.
That the notice was not directly communicated to the women concerned is “grossly inadequate”, O’Connor says.
The overwhelming majority of our members are not computer literate nor are their legal advisors in the habit of receiving online notifications.
Women without legal representation are particularly vulnerable to having their data shredded without their knowledge or consent.
O’Connor is also concerned that the documents will be held for collection at the Department of Health once the assessment process has concluded.
Many applicants are involved in litigation against the state, she says, and to deposit their records with the department could potentially give the state an advantage in upcoming legal action.
Instead, SOS is urging the scheme to return all medical records to applicants by post.
Data protection
Data lawyer Fred Logue also believes the onus is on the assessor to return the documents.
“Placing an ad on the internet with a short deadline is not only unreasonable but also a breach of the terms of reference, which are crystal clear on this point,” he says.
Shredding of any personal medical records could also violate data protection legislation, he adds.
Any unauthorised destruction of documents containing personal data is in breach of the terms of reference and would likely be also a breach of the Data Protection Acts, and aggrieved applicants would have remedies in that respect.
Symphysiotomy was carried out on an estimated 1,500 women in Ireland up to the 1980s, long after being discontinued in other jurisdictions.
The controversial operation involved cutting the cartilage of a pregnant women’s pelvic bone – or breaking the bone itself in some extreme cases – to widen the birth canal.
Many women subjected to the procedure were left with long-term medical difficulties including incontinence and chronic pain.
The government established a redress scheme to compensate survivors following years of campaigning.
Women injured during the operation have been able to claim for one of three categories of funding: €50,000, €100,000 and €150,000.
A spokesperson for former High Court judge Maureen Harding Clark, who oversees the scheme, said she had outlined her position fully to SOS.
“Any applicant who wishes to have her documents returned can write to Judge Clark at the scheme and they will be returned,” they said.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner confirmed it is considering the matter following correspondence received this week.
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I have lived in the UK for many years. This is not a surprise. The lack of knowledge the English have about any of the other 4 nations is astounding.
@Alan McDonald: only 3 others in the union
@Alan McDonald: sorry what other 4 nations?
@Alan McDonald:
Nothing astounding about it. The same lack of knowledge exists in those regions about England too. And what do you know about England other than what you were taught in school and how it relates to Ireland. There’s no comparison between the English and Americans when it comes to knowing little or nothing about others.
@The Quare Fella: no it doesn’t. The English really are shocking when it comes to the union. Scotland, NI and Wales are far more knowledgeable about the union and their place in it. The majority of English people wouldn’t even be able to explain the Union Jack flag. I also grew up there and have first hand experience of how ignorant they are about “Team GB”. It’s laughable.
@The Quare Fella: he said he lived in the UK for many years, not that he was educated there. Perhaps he received a more fulltime education and understanding of the geopolitics of the british isles prior to moving to the UK? But hey, why not just take the time to ridicule his experiences and observations regardless?
@Alan McDonald: I’m not sure not caring about retaining Northern Ireland equates to a lack of knowledge on the matter.
@2thFairy:
what an incredibly stupid comment
@Alan McDonald: The four nations excluding England are Scotland, Wales, Gibraltar and northern Ireland.
@The Quare Fella: I respectfully disagree. A fair percentage of Irish people could rattle off the last half dozen Uk prime ministers, the leader of the opposition maybe a Home Secretary or two. They would know a decent amount about about British history: Winston Churchill, Henry VIII, English Civil war etc… The reverse is not true. To the UK 1916 means the battle of the Somme. That’s not judgmental, it’s just a fact. We have Uk tv and newspapers and our history is deeply intertwined with theirs and steeped in bitterness. For a myriad of reasons the English (in particular) remain oblivious of Ireland. It’s just a very small (and comparatively dull) part of their vast Imperial history which inevitably colours their view of their place in the world.
@Simon O Flaherty: :-) “The UK is a union of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Crown dependencies (the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) are largely self-governing with the UK responsible for their defence and international relations and are not part of the United Kingdom.” from…
https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/united-kingdom
@Alan McDonald: the lack of knowledge has spread to you
@Liam Mulvaney: The English remain oblivious of Ireland???? Like me over 1/3 of English people have Irish heritage 25% Irish great grandparent 10% grandparent and most are still alive and majority living in ROI Like mine until recently but still have alot of family there with different generations moving to and from the 2 islands, St Patricks day is probably the 3rd most celebrated day in England more celebrated than St Georges day
@Karen Wellington: perhaps he misguidedly was thinking of the Manx people!
@Simon O Flaherty: Gibraltar isn’t part of the UK. It’s a British overseas territory similar to the Isle of Man.
This is the bit that really annoying the DUP, sorry Arlene, but the mainlanders view you as more Irish than British
@Vocal Outrage: Met many people from NI on my travels and those of from a Unionist background refer to themselves as British while on this island of Ireland but Irish when they are overseas.
” Big Arlene ” is going to love this news!!
@Simon Connolly: this is not news to Arlene or to anyone who is knowledgable on the situation.
@Simon Connolly: She is aware of it already, her ambitions are not about unionism, its simple racism against anything that’s not a god fearing gay hating pro life anti pope Dinosaur. Her and the DUP relationship with the UK is one of blackmail when it comes to votes , rather like our independants during the coalition years .
@Simon Connolly: Seems like loyalty is a one way street
Thanks very much , the UK spent the last 100 years creating and twisting this warped 6 county statelet and would drop it in a heartbeat.
I would consider myself Nationalist but there is very little we could do in the South to help them up there, it is probably 2 generations away from being ” normal”,
@John Walsh: and the failure of those of us in the South to recognise their perspective and view them as ‘abnormal’ will add further generations after that. Unless we do that a United Ireland is impossible
First four in ten, then you switch to percentages. Further down you use comparative figures. If you were presenting a paper for an exam, or trying to make a sales pitch to a board you would not do very well. Be consistent.
@Michael O’ Carroll: or maybe they are giving a fuller picture of the study. That may not be acceptable for a 2nd level exam, but would be expected for a 3rd level paper
@Vocal Outrage: padding and filling lines to meet the word target…yep I remember that all in 3rd level
Snarlene’s having a fit
That really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Ouch,Arlene and her loyalist chums ain’t going to like this.nobody seems to want them anymore.their identity is gone in who they are.they are frightened animals
Nobody likes a bigot….:)
There we go, just give us the six counties back and it’ll avoid a lot of headaches it seems!
@Keith O’Reilly: No thanks!
@Keith O’Reilly: would you really want these bigoted people back, NOT ME
@Keith O’Reilly: and give the south headaches instead.
@Carol Cunningham: It’s funny what fear can do to people
@Carol Cunningham: lol and the South has NO Bigots
@Carol Cunningham: are you referring to the counties that won’t accept asylum seekers ?
@Andrew Cousins: of course it doesn’t …. it’s greener than green.
@Keith O’Reilly: But we Cant afford it …I wish life was that easy
Well we’ll take them, for 10 billion a year, for 20 years, in gold.
I love how small the number of people questioned in this were. Plus you don’t know what area it was or how the question was asked. This piece was done to create a divide on the island of Ireland nothing else.
@Madra: how small? Its over 1,000, normally the maximum sample size for stats. I think it had very little to do with division on this island and more about division in the union.
@Daimhín De Naois: correct. The union is in its death throws. The scots want to dissolve the Act of Union, the Welsh would take independence if someone baled and continued to bake them out and nobody could give a flying f…. about the problem child aka Northern Ireland. Why not create an alliance of Gaelic (Ireland, Scotland (excluding the outer islands which have more in common with the Scandinavian countries), Isle of Mann) and Celtic (Wales, Breton (Brittany) and Cornwall) countries? That’ll leave a smaller England which could become a state of America! There sorted.
Unionism goes out the window when it comes down to money. Apart from Arlene and some of the other Loyalist headbangers, the majority of people up North want what is best for their pocket.
Scotland
Wales
England
6 Countries
@trebloc01: It’s not 6, it’s only 3.
@trebloc01: It’s called Northern Ireland still…..
@trebloc01: Its Counties…. OMG
‘Mainland Britain’? I’m sure they mean Mainland U.K. Northern Ireland is not part of Britain….just read the cover of their passports.
Northern Ireland is not a nation. It’s a latent region of the original authentic Irish Republic that’s was originally envisaged by the signatories of the proclamation. Not the current quango in operation.
I’m an Northern Ireland Unionist and not surprised by the survey although it clearly sounds a bit dodgy as to how the data was compiled and analysed. However I’m not surprised at the venom of the sectarian comments here, saddened but not surprised. No wonder Unionists view a United Ireland with a foreboding chill.
@Denver mawhinney: So you don’t like the idea of reciprocity then.
The North is not and never has been a part of the UK…their conscious UK…in common with the whole of Ireland…and Malawi …the North is a colony. This merely shows that…Would they give up Norfolk or Devon? No…why not ? Coz Devon and Norfolk is THEIR country ..Derry is not. Left over colonies are not sustainable…Dublin had better get a blueprint together coz the whole place could land on their lap sooner than they think…Deal with reality or it will deal with you…30 years ago last week West Germany found that out.
@John Sullivan: as an Irishman I am scared of the possibility of a united Ireland we can barely keep the backarse of nowhere going imagine having to take an extra six counties overinflated with civil servants in counties that consume more than they generate. Imagine having to fund all those armoured land rovers to deal with extreme antisocial behaviour.
I guess we will see a lot of these polls on the run up to the UK election. You can get the stats to go what ever way you want I think they pi#s Boris off and like a boil he’s going to lance them!
What’s mainland Britain? Is it that other island with a superiority complex next to Ireland off the European mainland?
@Marc Power: You know as well as anyone that “Britain” is shorthand for the British state, i.e. the United Kingdom, of which the island of Britain is the mainland.
During world war 1 & 2, Britain felt that Ireland would align itself with Germany and it didn’t want to find itself surrounded by the enemy hence keeping NI is purely strategic in times of war. Same for all these small overseas territories throughout the world. Now there is drone and nuclear it’s probably less interested in hanging onto it.
If you were a clever Unionist politician, wouldn’t you be inclined to get in early and start negotiating some favourable and progressive ground rules for the coming border poll debate and possible life-changing experience that’s likely to follow, for their community.
there is a great opportunity out there for it, given that we’ll be waiting until 21st century for our own FG government decides to call it and get a conversation going. For the clever unionists (if there is such a creature) knowing that the change is coming anyway, wouldn’t it make perfect sense to get out there now and take control of the conversation around what kind of Ireland they wish to live in.
My own dream scenario would be for some progressive loyalists to give the DUP the slip on this and start negotiating on behalf of their own communities for this future Ireland, and later helping to redirect our future party political system in a new direction of Right V Left or Conservative V Progressive. Giving the new nation a clear choice at the polls! No more Orange or Green but Mick Wallace’s Pink!
Hardly a surprise.
@Andrew Cousins: Read the actual survey. 1641 adults surveyed in Britain.
So where are these people questioned from ??? Not going to get into a Brexit fight. England and Wales voted to leave. SCOTLAND, NORTHERN IRELAND AND GIBRALTAR voted to remain. These three are being forced to have BREXIT. Two want to stay as part of the UK. Scotland according to the SNP want to become INDEPENDENT despite the actual UNION vote to remain. You quote a very small number to make such a statement
@Andrew Cousins: “not going to start a brexit fight..” while picking a fight outraged by your own misunderstanding of the article due to not taking the time to actually read it. But yet, you took the time to write a lengthy post giving out.. *face palm
We are long overdue a mature debate in the republic about what Ireland we could live in alongside our unionist neighbours- our flag, anthem, constitution, president, commonwealth membership, what price unity i wonder…
@Kevin Quinn: Indeed Kevin …what price Unity …I wish it could go away …its too scary man
What a diabolical use of wording.
“A MAJORITY of Remainers and Leavers would be prepared to see NI leave the Union”
4 in 10 would not be concerned.
That suggests that 6 in 10 would be concerned. How is that a majority?!?!?
I dunno what kind of nonsense reporting this is!
Not many care on either side to be honest
have your say