A finding of professional misconduct against three obstetricians who provided reports in 1998 exonerating the practice of Drogheda obstetrician Dr Michael Neary has been upheld by a full meeting of the Medical Council.
The finding will not result in any restrictions being placed on their practice, but it will be recorded on their files.
The three obstetricians are Prof Walter Prendiville, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Coombe Women's Hospital; Dr Bernard Stuart, also of the Coombe, and Dr John Murphy, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, and president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
In a brief statement last night, they said: "We are bitterly disappointed by the finding of professional misconduct, which we believe is fundamentally wrong. We have no further comment to make."
They now have a right to seek a judicial review of the outcome in the High Court.
The Medical Council said it intended to publish transcripts of its fitness to practise hearing into their conduct, which was held in private, on its website "as soon as the transcripts have been reviewed to protect, insofar as is possible, the identity of patients".
The fitness to practise committee inquiry took place over four days in November, December and January. It was already known that the committee found them guilty of professional misconduct but the finding had to be endorsed by a full meeting of the council.
The three obstetricians appeared before yesterday's council meeting with legal representatives and are understood to have argued strongly against any finding of misconduct being recorded against them.
A formal complaint was made to the Medical Council about the physicians by Patient Focus last year following publication of the Lourdes Hospital Inquiry report, compiled by Judge Maureen Harding Clark.
The report referred to the fact that they were asked to conduct a review of the work of Dr Neary after concerns were initially raised about his high rate of hysterectomies, many of which it later transpired were unnecessary. They reviewed nine cases of Caesarean hysterectomies selected for them by Dr Neary in 1998 and they filed reports after a brief examination of records and found he could continue working.
When interviewed for the Lourdes Hospital inquiry, the obstetricians explained that their limited reports were "prepared on a confidential basis to enable Dr Neary to continue working, pending the outcome of the review of his practice by the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists".
As a result of their reviews, Dr Neary returned to work at the hospital subject to restrictions, but he did not return for long. The then North-Eastern Health Board sought the views of Dr Michael Maresh, an obstetrician based in Manchester. He reviewed the same nine cases and expressed major concerns.
According to Judge Harding Clark's report, the three obstetricians "have had serious regret for their part in producing these reports, which were motivated by compassion and collegiality".
In a statement last night, the Medical Council confirmed the finding of professional misconduct against them.
Sheila O'Connor of Patient Focus said she was relieved at the finding and the fact that the transcripts of the inquiry would be published.
"We hope that serious lessons are learnt by the rest of the profession when it comes to reviewing the practice of individual doctors because this is a matter of patient safety and not collegiality as the judge described it," she said.
In a separate development, the full meeting of the Medical Council yesterday also upheld an earlier ruling by its fitness to practise committee that three doctors criticised in an independent report into the death of Pat Joe Walsh, who bled to death at Monaghan General Hospital in October 2005, have no case to answer.