He botched operations and let a child die... so why was this doctor allowed to treat me?
Dodd, one mother’s furious blast at the medical authorities
journalist, was interested in his sporting connections — his office was full of signed Ireland rugby memorabilia, personal gifts from players whose children he had delivered and thank you cards.
We once saw a Leinster rugby star in the waiting room and wondered if Dr Rafferty would provide a ‘safe pair of hands’ for his baby.
The appointments were brief, as they should be for a relatively fit 34-year-old with few health issues.
At one I told him the midwives were concerned about my l ow iron levels but he brushed off my concerns, saying ‘midwives always are’ and insisted that I shouldn’t be too worried. I can’t remember the explanation but I remember feeling silly for raising the issue.
Soon after, I told Gavin I was having doubts about our choice. Dr Rafferty was always affable, but his confidence was beginning to seem cavalier, flicking his long hair from his face as he told us it would all be fine.
Maybe it would have been. I have no way of knowing because Dr Rafferty was off on leave for a personal matter when I was brought in to be induced by his colleague Dr Valerie Donnelly.
Because my waters had already broken, I was put straight on to an oxytocin drip, which stimulates the uterus to contract, thus speeding up labour. Once the contractions got going I felt as though I was being hit by a train over and over again, they were so powerful.
I had nausea and huge waves of emotion. After about an hour of this I asked for an epidural. Glad to have relief I went for a snooze while Gavin got some lunch.
We were chatting and listening to the radio, laying bets with Felicity on the time the baby would be born, all the while with Lois’s heartbeat thumping away in the background.
If I had known I wouldn’t have let him near me
Unfortunately the downside of the epidural became apparent when that beat slowed. I couldn’t feel my contractions, I was relying on a machine and Felicity to tell me when to push. I just wanted my baby in my arms and I had no control over my body or my labour.
Thankfully my labour had a happy ending, as do the approximately 250 other labours that occur in Ireland every day. But when something goes wrong — as it can in an instant — you want to have people around you in whom you have complete and utter faith. That day I did: but had I known of the complaints against Dr Rafferty, I would not have let him anywhere near me.
It is unacceptable, for both the medic and future patients, that these cases take so long to be decided and to come to public attention after a complaint has been made.
Dr Rafferty practised as normal despite the — very serious — allegations against him.
The Medical Council has the power to apply to the High Court to i mmediately stop a consultant practising if they deem it necessary, why didn’t they use this power in Dr Rafferty’s case?
In 2013 he was found guilty of professional misconduct — the most serious verdict the Council can hand down — yet received the most lenient censure and was permitted to continue to practise but with conditions attached. Yes, our judicial system is based on a presumption of innocence until proven guilty: but when people’s lives are at risk, more decisive action is needed.
Had my baby suffered in any way, the ‘presumption of innocence’ would have given me cold comfort. And I’m sure it offered the Dodds no comfort to discover that the consultant whose failings contributed to the death of their baby in 2008 had made two serious errors a year earlier.
As I sit writing this piece, I hear that liquidators have been appointed to Mount Carmel and it will close within months.
I feel for the more than 300 people who will lose their jobs and also feel that its closure reduces choices for women and will cause anxiety for those who have to change hospital.
But every mother has a right to know the truth — while their babies have the right to a healthy delivery in the safest hands possible.