Call for obstetric violence problem in Irish hospitals to be acknowledged
The issue of obstetric violence is 'still very much hidden in Ireland'. File picture
The health service will be asked, at Monday’s launch of the National Survey on Births in Ireland, to acknowledge that a problem of obstetric violence exists in Irish hospitals.
Among the key findings in the report are issues around women who were neither asked for or gave their consent for medical procedures.
Health researcher Dr Susann Huschke of University of Limerick’s School of Medicine, said: “The first thing the health service needs to do is acknowledge there is a problem.
“We will be calling for this on Monday.
“Every day obstetric violence is still very much hidden in Ireland. It is not talked about enough yet,” she said.
Late last year, the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) said obstetric violence is a recognised form of gender-based violence.
Examples include medics performing interventions without consent and women being neglected by being left to labour on their own without appropriate support or pain relief. Another is “gaslighting”, where medics try and convince women they are not remembering events correctly or misinterpreting what happened.
Almost half of patients surveyed said they did not realise consent was needed before medics could carry out internal examinations.
Some 25% of those who completed the survey, and had either a C-section or an instrument-assisted birth, said they were not provided with enough information about both procedures.
When asked if they were involved in the decision about what kind of birth to have — spontaneous vaginal birth, instrumental birth, or C-section — just over half said they were fully involved.
However, issues arose with the remaining 47% who referenced varying degrees of either consent or information being provided to them in advance of procedures.
The report launch at noon in the University of Limerick’s Pavilion in the North Campus will present findings from answers provided by 3,824 respondents who gave birth in Ireland between 2018 and 2023.
The project was a collaborative effort led by midwives, doulas, mothers, and health researchers who are part of the Birth Rights Alliance Ireland (BRAI), in collaboration with the Participatory Health Research Unit, UL.
The survey sheds light on issues including high rates of routine medical interventions such as inductions, episiotomies, and C-sections.
Dr Huschke pointed out that when it comes to obstetric violence carried out by male or female surgeons, inaction by onlooking midwives leaves them complicit in the violence if they do not intervene.
“Obviously everybody in the room is implicated in it in a way,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said: “The INMO has consistently advocated for safe midwifery staffing levels in maternity hospitals and units, which are necessary to ensure respectful maternity care.
“Additionally, we have long campaigned for increased numbers of midwifery-led services to ensure greater levels of choice for women and moreover, we have consistently advocated for the development and implementation of a nationwide safe home birth service to facilitate more choice for women.
“The INMO and its members advocate the provision of a human rights-based, respectful, and safe system of maternity care in Ireland.”
