Inquiry to proceed as midwife loses challenge

A HOME-BIRTH midwife has lost her High Court action over alleged objective bias by an inquiry into allegations of professional misconduct against her arising from 19 complaints by a client.

The rejection by Mr Justice John Hedigan of the claims by Ann Ó Ceallaigh, Temple Crescent, Blackrock, Co Dublin, means the inquiry by a fitness to practise committee of An Bord Altranais (Nursing Board) may proceed.

Mr Justice Hedigan ruled Ms Ó Ceallaigh had failed to show any reasonable apprehension of objective bias by the inquiry against her. Ms Ó Ceallaigh had claimed that Pauline Treanor, general manager of Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital and chairwoman of the fitness to practise committee, should withdraw from the inquiry.

She had alleged that Ms Treanor, formerly a director of nursing and midwifery at the Rotunda, had a conflict of interest because a key expert midwife witness to the inquiry, Fiona Hanrahan, is also an assistant director of nursing and midwifery at the Rotunda.

She had claimed it would be logical for Ms Treanor to prefer the evidence of Ms Hanrahan over the evidence of Ms Ó Ceallaigh’s experts, who were from outside the country.

But the judge said the fact both women are employed at the same hospital is not of itself sufficient to show objective bias.

There must be some other factor in respect of that relationship, in the context of the inquiry, which would give rise to a reasonable apprehension the outcome of the inquiry could be affected. He found no such other factor.

While Ms Treanor and Ms Hanrahan are both employees of the Rotunda, their professional relationship was not particularly close, the judge said. Ms Treanor was not Ms Hanrahan’s line manager and they did not participate in regular committee meetings together.

Ms Hanrahan was also not a party to the inquiry into the allegations against Ms Ó Ceallaigh but was rather an independent witness with no stake in the outcome.

The Rotunda also had no stake in the outcome and there was “no cogent reason” for believing Ms Treanor, just because she worked in the same hospital, would necessarily prefer Ms Hanrahan’s evidence over that of expert witnesses called by Ms Ó Ceallaigh.

Ms Treanor was an experienced member of the fitness to practise committee, he added. It was “in the interests of a fair and proper inquiry that it be chaired by a professional nurse with extensive knowledge of midwifery and that expert evidence should be tendered by another professional nurse with special expertise in domiciliary midwifery”.

The inquiry has been on hold since the challenge was initiated in July last and Ms Ó Ceallaigh had also agreed not to practise for the present.