CHI won’t say if surgery scandal referred to Tusla

Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) won’t confirm if its doctors complied with a legal obligation to refer the spinal and hip surgery scandals to Tusla.

CHI doctors were legally obliged to refer both issues to the child protection agency Tusla under the Children First Act 2015, because the unlicensed spring implants and unnecessary surgeries harmed child patients.

CHI declined to comment when asked if and when its surgeons or clinical director had referred the spinal and hip surgery scandals to Tusla.

HIQA published a report earlier this week confirming revelations by The Ditch that unlicensed non-medical grade springs had been implanted in child patients at Temple Street children’s hospital.

In February The Ditch published details of a leaked expert report which found that nearly 80 percent of hip operations at a Children’s Health Ireland hospital were unnecessary.

The 2015 legislation defines ‘harm’ as “assault, ill-treatment or neglect of the child in a manner that seriously affects or is likely to seriously affect the child’s health, development or welfare”.

The law requires mandated persons, including doctors and surgeons, to report any potential harm affecting children to Tusla.