Sheila Hodgers was an Irish woman from Dundalk, County Louth, who died of multiple cancers two days after giving birth to her third child.
10 Facts About Sheila Hodgers
1.
2.
Sheila Hodgers was denied treatments for her cancer while pregnant because the Catholic ethos of the hospital did not wish to harm the foetus.
3.
Sheila Hodgers's case was publicised in an article in The Irish Times the week before a September 1983 referendum which enshrined the right to life of the foetus in the Constitution of Ireland.
4.
Sheila Hodgers was prescribed a course of anti-cancer drugs and advised not to use the contraceptive pill as this could cause her cancer to return.
5.
Sheila Hodgers began experiencing severe back pains and could hardly stand.
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Sheila Hodgers's husband urged the hospital to induce her pregnancy or perform a Caesarian section but they refused as it would damage the foetus.
7.
Sheila Hodgers's husband said the only doctor there he trusted was Michael Neary.
8.
Sheila Hodgers was moved to the maternity unit and given painkillers.
9.
On 17 March 1983, Sheila Hodgers gave premature birth in extreme agony to a baby girl, Gemma, who immediately died.
10.
Sheila Hodgers died two days later from cancer in her neck, spine, legs, liver and ribs.