http://support.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=654365&issue_id=6532

Irish Independent
December 13, 2001

Report on probe into GP's abuse allegations due shortly
Eilish O'Regan

The Medical Council has invited families who made allegations against retired GP Dr Moira Woods to hear submissions this evening on an inquiry report.

Five families complained that Dr Woods wrongly accused them of sexually abusing their children when she was Director of the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin during the 1980s.

The report of the Fitness to Practice Committee, which has yet to go before a full meeting of the Council, is then expected to be published.

Dr Woods has been found guilty of professional misconduct arising out of the allegations by the families who cannot be named to protect their children.

Legal representatives for Dr Woods are entitled to make submissions to have the report remain private. Dr Woods is entitled to lodge an appeal against any sanction in the High Court.

Eleven children were involved in the case but Dr Woods has consistently put forward a strong defence of her actions.

The inquiry which began over two years ago heard evidence over 40 days.

A full meeting of the Council is expected to consider what sanctions if any should be taken against Dr Woods. The Council has a number of options at its disposal including censure or erasure from the medical register.

Dr Woods now mostly resides abroad and has given up her practice in Ballsbridge in Dublin.