A Violation Against Women

On 10 July 1995, Kathleen Ward went into Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda to give birth. While she was there, her ability to give birth to any future children was taken away from her, without her consent. At the hands of Dr Michael Neary, she underwent an unplanned and unnecessary hysterectomy. She was not the only one. Dr Neary performed 188 peripartum hysterectomies over a twenty-five year period, according to the Judge Harding Clark Report. For Kathleen, what followed this violent and unwanted surgery was a dark period filled with debilitating panic attacks and traumatic relivings of the operation, all while she remained the primary breadwinner in her family and sought treatment for her depression and anxiety – a search that would take years. Neary has been struck off the medical register, but walks free. For years, Kathleen fought a tide of misinformation, mishandled evidence and injustice, seeking recognition and compensation. In A Violation Against Women, she relates her story with honesty and sincerity. It is ultimately a hopeful, uplifting account. In 1984, Kathleen Ward established a pioneering multidisciplinary holistic health clinic in County Monaghan. She is now in her thirty-first year of practice.