Chapter 16 — Hospitals

Emotional abuse

One female witness reported being prevented from using her wheelchair to go the bathroom by herself, although she was capable of managing the task independently. The witness commented that, instead, she was ‘manhandled’, in and out of the toilet. Similarly, she reported not being allowed to feed or dress herself as she was considered too slow. Another witness described the way in which toileting was managed on the ward of a hospital where children were bed-bound but not immobile: They ... (staff)... hated to be disturbed at night.... If one wanted to go the bathroom we defecated or wee’d ... (urinated)... into our face flannels and we’d all rush to the loo in the morning to get rid of it.... Scrubbing and scrubbing the face flannels.... The smell of it was appalling.

Three (3) male witnesses reported being bed-bound and having to pass a urine bottle around from one to the other and being punished if it was dropped. There was this pee jar ... (urine bottle)... it was passed from bed to bed between the lads. ... This morning I dropped it and she ... (Sr X)... came around with the stick.... I got 24 slaps on the hand, she couldn’t hold my hand in front, to hit me on the hand in front ...(due to disability)... and what did she do but she pulled the hand behind and hit me like that ...distressed... I got 24 slaps.

Other witnesses reported being reluctant to request assistance from certain staff who complained when asked to take them to the toilet. The witnesses reported they were subsequently punished for wetting or soiling themselves. One witness who wet her bed was put outside at night to await the ‘special ghost train that comes to take children who wet their bed’. Another witness gave the following account of being punished because his physical disability prevented him from being able to perform certain functions: The abuse was unbelievable, Jaysus, like, the beatings for no reason. I was beat for being unable to tie my shoes.... This particular nun... (distressed) ... was most abusive, it was one of them ... (wooden stick)... she had.... I could not put down my hand... Witness described particular physical disability....They beat me the whole day the day of the Communion because I could not put my hand down, for the photograph for my mother.... You were afraid of your livin’ daylights.

Tensions between staff members were described as, at times, influencing how patients were treated. A witness reported overhearing an argument about her admission to the ward. She was aware that certain staff objected to her admission and she believed she was treated harshly as a result. Other witnesses reported overhearing staff discussing their personal attributes and medical conditions as if they were not there, without any direct discussion with the witnesses themselves. They used have a discussion when they were bathing me, on my head, the size of me head and I remember them saying “this one has a very small head, I wonder will she be alright”. I remember thinking “what am I going to do about my small head?”...

Many witnesses were admitted to hospitals that were located long distances from their family home, and as a result family contact was unavoidably disrupted. Those who had lengthy admissions frequently reported feeling alienated from their family as a result. I was in ...X... hospital from birth. I was born with a disability called ...named condition.... I spent all my life in and out of institutions. ... I had a lot of operations, I was going for experimentation because they didn’t know a lot about it ... (named condition).... I was very little at home, they sent me home once for a holiday but I had to come back because I didn’t know what home was. My mother would visit about once a fortnight, but I knew very little about brothers or sisters.

Limited access to transport and telephones at the time contributed to the witnesses’ sense of isolation. The hospitals’ rules regarding visiting arrangements were described as an additional deterrent to family contact in these circumstances.

One witness described her mother regularly making a long journey by bus to visit her and on each occasion being obliged to wait outside for several hours after the official visiting time was over, until the return bus arrived. On one occasion when the witness’s mother could not visit, her sisters made the journey instead. They were not allowed to visit the witness and had to wait outside the hospital until their transport arrived at the end of the day. Another witness described her parents waving to her through a window when they arrived outside the regular visiting hours and were denied admission to see her.

Eight (8) witnesses reported that their lengthy admissions to hospitals or county homes were in the context of social or family difficulties, combined in most instances with specific health problems. I hope to God that anyone, ... never has to go to a place like that anymore ... you see you don’t know what places are like when you don’t know nothing about them, when you are just landed in and they ...(family members)... say “I have to leave you here now and I’ll be up ...(to visit)... and I’ll write and I’ll ring you and see what happens”, and there’s me left sitting there thinking “what’s next?”

Marital separation, illness and family disharmony were described as factors that contributed to a number of protracted hospital admissions. Six (6) of the witnesses reported having little or no subsequent contact with their parents or other family members. They reported that staff told them that they were in hospital because they were not wanted or because their parents could not look after them.

Letters, food parcels and presents from family members were reported to have been periodically retained by staff in some hospitals. A witness reported that food and toys she received from home were often taken by staff members who either kept them or gave them to other patients. Another witness reported being teased by care staff who openly consumed the sweets and other food she had been given by visitors.

Knowledge of abuse

Evidence was given of witnesses disclosing details of abuse to parents, relatives, care staff, and other professionals both within and outside the institutions. The investigation and outcome of abuse disclosures varied. Witnesses also commented that the public nature of certain aspects of the abuse they experienced made awareness unavoidable. They reported being abused in front of both other patients and staff members. A number of witnesses also remarked that the manner in which they were treated by staff was seen by many who visited the hospitals. Three (3) witnesses reported attending secondary schools in the local community where teachers were supportive and were believed to be aware of the deprivations and abuse the witnesses experienced in the hospital facilities where they resided.

Twenty (20) witnesses reported that their abuse was directly observed by others during their admission, mainly by other patients and nursing and care staff. Two (2) witnesses reported that physical abuse of patients was witnessed by a doctor on one occasion and by various staff members on an ongoing basis in another facility. One witness described the look of shock on a visiting doctor’s face when he walked into a ward to see a patient being hit by a staff member. A witness reported that staff members attempted to compensate for the charge nurse’s harsh treatment of patients by being discreetly kind afterwards.

As previously mentioned the public nature of daily routines on a hospital ward where patients were confined to bed resulted in many witnesses being aware of abuse through direct observation. Witnesses believed that staff were similarly aware of what occurred.

A number of witnesses commented that there was nobody they could talk to about the abuse they experienced. Some witnesses had no visitors and others remarked that there was no opportunity to talk privately when visitors did come. Witnesses with communication difficulties were particularly disadvantaged in relation to disclosing the abuse they were experiencing at the time. Witnesses also commented on the fact that they did not understand what was happening to them and were afraid to talk to anyone about it: I kind of know why I didn’t tell my mother what was going on, because I didn’t know what was right and what was wrong, so if I’d have told my mother she’d have gone mad. • I used hear the nun saying “are you going to tell your mammy, are you going to tell your mammy?”...then it clicked, I said to myself that if I tell my mother then I’ll get another hiding. • I couldn’t tell my parents ... (about sexual abuse) ...you just done what you were told. There was very little communication ... I didn’t know what the hell was going on, I thought it was all medical and you’d be thinking what were they at?

Ten (10) witnesses reported telling someone about the abuse they experienced. Seven (7) of the reported disclosures were to parents or relatives and three were made to external professionals, including social workers, gardaí and a school counsellor. A number of other witnesses reported that they disclosed the abuse they had experienced for the first time when they attended the Commission. It is so important to tell someone about my experience...about what happened to me in hospital. The only time I ever talked about it before was to my wife... (recently)...not all the details. I wanted to tell someone, I didn’t know who to tell. I was going to tell the guard... (gardai)..., but that would upset all my family...I dearly wanted to tell someone, in case I passed away and it would never be told.