http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=1225

Irishhealth.com
December 12, 2000

Inquiry into doctor to end in March

An inquiry into allegations that a prominent doctor made false allegations of child sexual abuse, involving 11 children, is expected to conclude in March. The unprecedented inquiry has been going on here since October 1999.

The case is being heard in private by the Medical Council, the statutory body charged with dealing with complaints about the ethical and professional conduct of doctors in Ireland.

The doctor at the centre of the inquiry, social-campaigner, Dr Moira Woods, has strongly denied the allegations. At the time, she was the head of the Rotunda Hospital sexual assault unit. The controversy involves five separate families.

The inquiry has heard evidence from a large number of witnesses including other doctors, social workers, the families concerned, officials from the Department of Health, the Eastern Health Board (now the ERHA) and the Rotunda Hospital. Experts from abroad have also given evidence.

The first complaint to the Medical Council, by one of the fathers in the controversy, was made in March 1992. In January 1996, the Council decided that there was a prima facie case for the holding of an full inquiry by its Fitness to Practise Committee.

The inquiry adjourned in recent days and will resume in January. It is due to conclude in late March 2001.