Moral Panic - Child
Sexual Abuse |
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Dr Moira Woods, who was found
guilty of professional misconduct by the Medical Council in January last
year, says the inquiry into her has increased "fear among professionals
of committing themselves to any statement on child abuse - physical,
emotional or sexual". In her first interview since
censure, published in today's Irish Medical News, Dr Woods is strongly
critical of the council and concerned that extracts from its report appeared,
sometimes inaccurately, in the media. The full report was never published. The Medical Council did not
respond yesterday evening when asked for comment on her interview. In 1992, the council's Fitness to
Practise Committee began an inquiry into Dr Woods's management of alleged
child sex abuse cases, following complaints from five sets of parents. They
questioned her fitness to practise at the Sexual Abuse Treatment Unit (SATU)
of the She faced 55 charges. The
committee investigated between October 1999 and December 2000 and found 13
charges to have been proven. According to a statement issued
recently by the Medical Council, the committee found she "failed to
gather all the available evidence and/or did not follow the protocols
established by SATU and/or failed to review additional information received
after preliminary findings had been reached". Dr Woods points out there were no
guidelines when she was appointed first director of the SATU in 1985. "Our work was influenced by
the international guidelines on best practice then in place in those units
which were developing a child-centred programme for the detection of this
crime in She says two international
experts, Dr Howard Baderman and Dr Anthony Baker, told the committee
"again and again that there were no 'procedures' at the time ". Communication between different
professional workers dealing with the problem in different countries
"was the way learning evolved", she says. She also points out she was never
alone when handling child sexual abuse cases. "I worked with the health
boards, social workers, legal personnel, gardai and psychologists," she
says. The bulk of the recent Medical
Council statement is devoted to a criticism of the conditions under which Dr
Woods was obliged to work in the Rotunda. While "doctors must take
responsibility for not meeting the standards set by their peers", it
says, "those who plan, fund and oversee medical services have separate
responsibilities to the doctors whom they employ". It also criticises the SATU,
saying it "did not have access to in-patient facilities and could not
therefore admit children to a hospital setting. This limited the options for
the investigation and management of these cases". Describing this criticism as
"deeply ironic", she says the basic problems the council now
suggests should be addressed were the very issues the SATU tried "in vain"
to address 20 years ago. Their efforts were "in
vain", she says, "because of lack of co-operation from, among
others, the medical profession". While |