Father whose child had complications after spinal surgery 'wants answers'
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The father of a girl who suffered complications after spinal surgery has said he is hoping to get some answers after his daughter underwent four surgeries in nine months.
On Monday, the HSE said it had ordered an external review of orthopaedic surgery at Temple Street following 19 “serious spinal surgical incidents”.
That has now been expanded to a full review of all children’s orthopaedic surgery across the country.
One child from among the group of 19 has died.
However, one father, whose daughter had four spinal surgeries at the Dublin hospital, has said the controversy has been very upsetting for his family.
Sophie Redmond, 14, from Dublin underwent surgery in February 2021 to prevent her ribs from twisting into lungs as a result of scoliosis. However, the screws loosened in her back, and she had to have revision surgery the following July after suffering chronic pain.
“Sophie had screw removals and replacements," her dad Eric Brennan said. "The tip of the pedicle screw was touching her left kidney.”
Further complications arose and Sophie underwent three more surgeries in 2021.
“She had more pain and had to be fused and had a hip bone graft,” he added.
Despite being operated on in Temple Street, Mr Brennan said the hospital has been slow to get in contact.
“We just want some answers,” he told the .
“Sophie fought hard to get this surgery and she ended up going through four operations in 2021 because of complications.”
Mr Brennan said the family got on well and had a good relationship with the consultants and were not finger-pointing, but insisted they needed answers to their questions.
He said: “I understand Sophie will be in the Temple Street review, but we would like some clarity now.
“Not a single person has rang us and that in itself causes us fear. Sophie is doing well now but she had a very tough time in 2021, she had four surgeries in nine months.
"There were many complications. They knew about this for so long, surely someone could have given us a ring and talk to us.”
Sophie protested at the Dáil in 2020 over having to wait more than a year for her surgery.
Mr Brennan said: “When the shutters come down and nobody wants to tell us anything then it causes fear, we just want answers as this involves our children and we want them from the hospital".
Meanwhile, Claire Cahill, co-founder of the Scoliosis Advocacy Network, said patients still face unknown delays to get treatment.
”This is about patient safety across the board, proper procedures, and processes, and that starts the day they are referred," she said.
“We don’t know how many are waiting for scoliosis appointments, if you don’t know how many there are waiting how can you know how big the problem is?"
A spokesperson for the hospital said: “CHI cannot comment on individual cases. Even if a family decides to make their story public, we are still bound by patient confidentiality.
“We would like to reassure our patients and their families that everybody known to have been affected has been contacted.
"We would like to reassure all other families in our orthopedic services that if you have not been contacted by CHI about these matters, then these reviews do not involve your child.”