Sheila Hodgers

Save the 8th campaign calls on Dr Peter Boylan to resign

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Sheila Hodgers (1956/57 - March 19, 1983) was an Irish woman from Dundalk, County Louth, who died of double cancer two days after giving birth to her third child. She was denied treatment for her cancer while pregnant because Catholic ethos at the hospital did not want to harm the fetus. His case was published in an article in The Irish Times the week before the September 1983 referendum that perpetuates the right to live the fetus in the Irish Constitution. This case has been told in the next pro-choice comment about abortion in the Republic of Ireland.

In August 1981, Hodgers detected a lump in the breast and was referred to the Hospital of Our Lady of Lourdes, then run by the Missionary Medical Mary, a Catholic nun. Sometime after the lumpectomy there, her husband Brendan was told by the surgeon that a second tumor had been found that would be fatal if a mastectomy was not performed. Even with the surgery, there is a strong chance of secondary tumor emergence. The operation was done and considered successful. Hodgers are prescribed anti-cancer drugs and are advised not to use the contraceptive pill as this can cause cancer to return. According to reporter Padraig Yeates, Brendan Hodgers claims a consultant told him that "because Sheila has a clean bill of health, (pregnancy) should not be a problem". The consultant himself denied this. According to Yeates, every medical expert he spoke to said that after undergoing a mastectomy, it is standard advice to tell a woman to wait at least two years before becoming pregnant.

One year after surgery, Sheila Hodgers was pregnant. Since the anti-cancer drug he drinks can harm the fetus, he is stopped to take it. Hodgers began to experience severe back pain and could barely stand up. Her husband urged the hospital to induce her pregnancy or perform a cesarean section but they refused because it would damage the fetus. They also reject painkillers. Hospitals must comply with the alleged "Bishop Contract", a code of ethics drafted by the Catholic Church. During his time at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Hodgers was attended by at least seven doctors. Her husband says the only doctor there she believes is Michael Neary.

According to Brendan Hodgers: "I went to see Sheila one evening and she was really in pain She was really screaming at this stage I could hear it from the front door of the hospital and she was in the ward on the fourth floor, I saw the sister and he produces a doctor who says nothing makes sense.

Sheila Hodgers was then transferred to the maternity unit and administered painkillers. According to Brendan, he is currently asking whether an abortion can be done but not given an answer. The couple asks again whether induction or Caesarian can be done, and again was told that the baby would not survive.

On March 17, 1983, Hodgers gave a premature birth in extreme suffering to a baby girl, Gemma, who soon died. Hodgers died two days later due to cancer in the neck, spine, legs, liver, and ribs.