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Home Page > News > Irish doctors broke women’s pelvis’ to prevent miscarriage - documentary reveals horrors of recent medical procedure

Irish doctors broke women’s pelvis’ to prevent miscarriage - documentary reveals horrors of recent medical procedure

Barbaric procedure marked the lives of thousands of Irish women

JAMES O'SHEA,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, November 16, 2012, 8:16 AM

Updated Friday, November 16, 2012, 9:46 AM

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A maternity theater

Photo by Google Images

A symphysiotomy is a painful surgical procedure that was used in maternity hospitals across Ireland in the 20th century. Often performed in the place of a Caesarean section, symphysiotomies involved breaking the woman’s pelvis during childbirth.

Victims contend the procedure was often carried out for religious rather than medical reasons, in order to prevent women needing repeated future caesareans and therefore wanting to use birth control.

According to the Journal.ie, The Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) group claim that the operations, which had profound and life altering effects on each woman, were carried out without prior knowledge or consent 'mainly for religious reasons, by obstetricians who were opposed to family planning.'

Other problems associated with the procedure include chronic lifelong back pain and incontinence.

At a recent gathering of women who had the procedure performed against their knowledge, 86-year-old Rita McCann said, 'I came on the Luas (Dublin tram) and I didn’t know if the cinema was on this side or the other. Then I spotted two women and said, 'I’m sure they are heading for it.' When you see the limps going you get the message.'

Limping is a common ailment in women who have suffered through the procedure. Between 100 and 150 survivors travelled to Dublin this week for the first screening of a documentary examining the barbaric practice, which it compares to methods used in Kenyan hospitals today. Ireland was one of the last countries in Europe to ban the practice.

Claire Kavanagh, another survivor, said: 'Put fifty of us in a room and you’ll get different stories but the same ending. We are all cripples.'

Irish broadcaster Marian Finucane introduced the film, and documentary maker Ronan Tynan told the audience that he was more affected by the survivors’ stories than he was when meeting victims of other types of torture around the world.

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EamonnDublin | Nov 18, 2012, 11:28 AM EST

Irish Central - Do you allow vicious abuse of ALL religions on these boards, or do you confine it to Catholicism? Éamonn, Dublin.

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alisaann | Nov 17, 2012, 08:07 PM EST

what and SAM'S HELL is WRONG with the meical people in IRELAND?....do they NOT care about, their people?...or is it ALL ABOUT RELIGION?....THIS MAKES ME SICK!~ ALISA

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MarieOConnor | Nov 17, 2012, 07:21 PM EST

So where is my earlier comment gone?

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mreinhar2001 | Nov 17, 2012, 03:42 PM EST

Excuse me 1920 Lambeth was against contraception; it was Lambeth Conference of 1930 that began to accept contraception as acceptable.

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mreinhar2001 | Nov 17, 2012, 03:37 PM EST

This really needs alot more investigation. Antoinette Kelly reported, "The findings of the report concludes that obstetricians decided to split women’s pelvis’ so that they would be encouraged to limit the number of children they had." The Roman Catholic Church is for the birth of children, so it makes no sense they it would have been been promoting this procedure, Portia777. Ireland had socialized medicine then, right? If so, it sounds like the medical societies and the state need to be investigated. Also it seems likely that non-Catholic Christians (at least in the 1940s) would still have been more pro-life. The influence of Resolution (68) of the 1920 Lambeth Conference would have just been beginning to spread.

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mreinhar2001 | Nov 17, 2012, 03:23 PM EST

James O'Shea was writing about the documentary, so he left out alot. In a June 2011 article here, Antoinette Kelly wrote a clearer article that explained why some obstetricians performed the sympysiotomy which required the breaking of the pelvic bone. (Certainly a bad idea in my book.) Mr. O'Shea adds the "h" and writes about the symphysiotomy in this article. In that procedure, the membrane between the two pelvic bones is cut, but bone is not broken. That needs to be clarified in this article as the outcome is different. The procedure with the "h" is what the Australian Medical School and the Swedish physician are discussing as techniques used in 2012.

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merefalow | Nov 17, 2012, 02:35 PM EST

its totally obscene that backward religious doctrines can overcome science,intelect,reason,knowledge,it makes you ashamed,i hate priest ridden backward theocratically ruled societys,where ever they are,and i hate critisising ireland,but for the sake of preventing this situation and to prevent the world considering us backward inept and dagerous,GET A GRIP AND ADVANCE YOUR MEDICINE IN THIS FIELD.

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SheilaSB | Nov 16, 2012, 09:24 PM EST

Forty years ago I worked as a medical assistant, receiving on-the-job training in the southern U.S. I noticed the limping and after-effects of childbirth that then-elderly women had been living with for decades. On the other hand, the mothers then in their 20s and 30s had no sign of such ill effects whatsoever. Just based on my observation, there had been a tremendous improvement in obstetrical in the 1960-70s era, even in the U.S. Much of the problem, I believe, is that women in past decades did not discuss such happenings, and they did the younger generations a disservice by letting their reluctant attitude promote ignorance.

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seanomelb | Nov 16, 2012, 05:07 PM EST

I remember my doctor (who was english) informing me of this procedure which he learned at the rotunda hospital.He claimed it was used in third world countries where op. theatres were scarce.

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mreinhar2001 | Nov 16, 2012, 02:50 PM EST

The question to answered though is what doctor came up with the procedure originally and was it used in other parts of the world. The University of New South Wales Medical school describes the Symphysiotomy as "an operation carried out to increase pelvic outlet size and to permit vaginal delivery of a baby. The surgical procedure involves dividing the cartilage of the symphysis pubis." Disgusting in itself, but it does not call for breaking bone. UNSW med school goes on to indicate that in 2012 Note that there is a growing worldwide trend in developed countries toward caesarean section delivery. So, the procedure is still used around the world. In fact, in 2002 K. Bjorklund from Sweden wrote an article ("Minimally invasive surgery for obstructed labour: a review of symphysiotomy during the twentieth century (including 5000 cases)") in which the doctor concluded "If valid conclusions can be drawn from one hundred years of retrospective studies, there is considerable evidence to support a reinstatement of symphysiotomy in the obstetric arsenal, for the benefit of women in obstructed labour and their offspring." So this still happening in more places than in Ireland and not necessarily under the eyes and guise of any religion.

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Portia777 | Nov 16, 2012, 09:37 AM EST

Rome loved to inflict pain and suffering on its breeders to keep them in their place and usurp their energy from suffering.Breeders is their word in sacred texts.

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