A feature of the ‘Picking up the Threads’ exhibition
A WEXFORD woman who was directly affected by maternal issues is leading the charge to have automatic inquests in the case of all maternal deaths made mandatory in law.
Doreen Fitzmaurice Ryan is a key member of The Elephant Collective: a national campaign group communicating its desire for change through a creative yet impactful multimedia exhibition entitled ‘Picking up the Threads’.
The group of educators, midwives, student midwives, birth activists and artists say Ireland’s maternity services need greater accountability, an outstanding system of audit and genuine open disclosure if our maternal health outcomes are to rise to the standard of those of other EU countries.
The lives of women who have died in Ireland’s maternity services were commemorated in ‘Picking up the Threads’ when it was recently hosted at National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway.
A panel discussion following the official opening saw thought leaders from a variety of perspectives consider the question: ‘why are women dying and what can we do about the failures in our maternity services?’
Named to reflect how an elephant herd gathers to offer protection when one of their own is giving birth, The Elephant Collective are hoping the ‘Picking up the Threads’ exhibition can soon also be held in County Wexford.
Local County Councillors have already supported the movement’s work, by adopting a motion proposed by People Before Profit Councillor Deirdre Wadding at a recent meeting.
It stated: ‘This Council requests the Government to progress the Coroner’s Bill as a matter of urgency and that the Coroner’s Bill will provide for an automatic inquest into EVERY maternal death in the state.’
Between 2007 and 2015, the HSE incurred €66 million in legal costs arising from maternity cases involving serious injury or death to women and / or babies.
A UCC report in 2015 showed that while 27 maternal deaths occurred in Ireland between the years 2011 and 2013, inquests took place for only three of the women who died.
Of the eight inquests held for women who died in Ireland’s maternity services between 2008 and 2014, as The Elephant Collective highlights, all ended in verdicts of death by medical misadventure.
This was the verdict returned unanimously, for example, in the inquest into the high-profile death of Savita Halappanavar at Galway University Hospital in October 2012.
The campaign to see an inquest held in the case of each maternal death is being led in the Dáil by TD Clare Daly.
Around the country, the vital support of Clare, Sligo, Wexford and Donegal County Councils to date has helped to build the growing momentum around this call for change and for increased transparency when a woman dies as a result of childbirth in any hospital around the country.
Read more in the Wexford Echo.