Healthcare watchdog needed

The report that the Fitness to Practice Committee of the Medical Council has decided not to carry out an enqiry into the treatment of Pat Joe Walsh, who bled to death at Monaghan Hospital, is alarmingly instructive. It is instructive that two surgeons from outside the jurisdiction of the state, who were commissioned to investigate the case by the HSE, stated among other things, that the unwillingness to admit and care for Mr Walsh at Cavan or Drogheda was “unacceptable”.

Is it not alarming that in this case the Fitness to Practice Committee has deemed that the doctors concerned have “no prima facie case to answer”?

Much has been made of proposed changes to the Medical Practioners Act, yet here in a high-profile case, we see the Medical Council acting in a manner that could be described as “circling the wagons”.

Any person can find himself or herself falling ill or meeting with an accident – surely this is the very time when we should be afforded the greatest possible care and consideration. Unfortunately this is not always the case. In addition, the supreme arrogance and certainty of some medical professionals, exemplified in a recent (albeit extreme) case of a young man who mistakenly had his stomach removed, necessitates the urgent need for an independent and robust statutory body, that will act as a watchdog to protect the public.

Will it take in the case of the late Mr Walsh, a high court ruling, before the Medical Council decides to carry out an investigation? It appears little has been learned from the Neary case and the nightmare scenario it represented for the women concerned.

Nuala O'Loughlin, Dublin 7