There were various news reports last Saturday on the case of an Irishwoman who was left "fighting for her life" after a botched abortion at London abortion clinic. see this link and this linkThe case, which occurred in 2006, emerged as part of a Fitness to Practise Inquiry by the UK General Medical Council into the conduct of a gynaecologist Dr Phanuel Dartey, who was struck off for his treatment of five patients -- including that of the botched abortion -- at the Marie Stopes International Clinic in Ealing.
The inquiry was told that Dartey perforated the uterus of the unidentified Irish woman and left parts of her aborted baby inside her. When she returned to Ireland she was rushed to hospital where she was in a critical condition for two months. It is believed she eventually recovered. The Ghanaian surgeon, who qualified in the former Soviet Union and did not attend the hearing had no valid medical indemnity insurance at the time.
It is also reported that Marie Stopes Reproductive Choices manager in Dublin, Gabrielle Malone, confirmed that the Ealing clinic was among the recommended facilities on a list given to Irish women seeking pregnancy "counselling". (It should be noted that referral for termination is illegal in Ireland so the fiction of counselling is used by agencies to remain within the letter, if not the spirit of the law .)
Ms Malone also claimed that Marie Stopes clinics had an excellent record and the Dartey case was an isolated one. This claim is in keeping with the notion that abortion where it is legal is supposed to be safe, needless to say it is never safe for the unfortunate baby but in addition such claims are suspect in the light of the generally available evidence but in particular the evidence presented in the European Court of Human Rights, A,B and C v Ireland Case, Grand Chamber Judgement last year, which sets out that the three women in this case all suffered medical complications following abortions in Britain.
According to Ms Malone 498 Irishwomen had abortions at the Ealing centre last year. The number of Irishwomen having abortions in the UK and elsewhere has been falling for nine years, but 4,402 had terminations last year. It would be interesting to discover what percentage of these women suffer some level of medical complications quite apart from the well documented Psychological problems which arise for the vast majority of women who decide to terminate the life of a baby.
