Has your confidence in the medical profession been damaged by the recent Neary controversy?

# 64

Posted: 14/07/2009 15:00

If a doctor was not LICENSED he would not be legally allowed to set up a practice.

Pharmaceutical companies get bad press from those who wish to jump on the conspiracy theorist band wagon. Ironic really given that drugs have actually EXTENDED our life expectancy greatly. Perhaps you would be happier if children were dying from treatable infections and those with cancer could not access chemotherapy?

# 63

Posted: 14/07/2009 14:00

Gennie, are you suggesting that docotrs don'd treat our conditions and diseases instead?? .These drugs either treat conditions and hence improve and extend life or hasten death?? You cannot have it both ways. Every medication you take has a cost benefit analysis. Even aspoirin can kill. It;s a case of weighing up ythe health benefit wioth the poissibility and effect of a side-effect. I hardly think my medically untrained 'instinct' can compatre with almost a decade of specilaised medical training and experience.  

# 62

Posted: 14/07/2009 01:34

Yes absolutely,we should know a lot more about their qualifications and experience .We dont know anything about these people .When we get an extention on the house we find out all obout the builders previous works  character etc.We had blind trust in Doctors due to their self glorification.The Doctor GP around 1960 was a very different species than what we have to-day  The 1960 was the begining of the production of pharmacutical drugs and 44 years later we have every known complaint treated with  some sort of drug  prescribed for by the GP.Its a money spinner.these drugs are being used to quicken the exit of the aged and nobody knows the real cause of death .study the side effect and get all data online on every drug prescribed.Irish Doctors are not up to date on the latest information on banned drugs and are years out of date. My advice is always follow your instinct it is more reliable

# 61

Posted: 28/05/2006 09:32

Joe, I don't doubt your concerns. I always boil my water (there's more than flouridisation in there) and buy bottled water to drink.

# 60

Posted: 26/05/2006 15:22

All public health doctors who support fluoridation are breaking the Hippocratic Oath. They cannot deny that fluoridation does harm -- it causes fluorosis. Not one of those doctors is willing to answer questions in public about it. The politicians don't want to know either. But the whole population is being dosed with fluoride, all day, every day. Who will stop it?

Don't take my word for it. Read "The Fluoride Deception" by Christopher Bryson.

# 59

Posted: 26/05/2006 04:02

Fiona, I am so sorry to hear about your situation.

The Medical Council must have had earlier complaints about Neary. As John Madden stated, where there is no watchdog with these bodies, it serves to perpetuate these abuses. This is Harney's job.

Can you bring a class action against him?

There should be a website (not this one) where people can name doctors who have broken their hippocratic oath to do no harm.

# 58

Posted: 24/05/2006 19:33

I have an I.C.D. Implanted Cardio Defribulator, due to cardio vascular spasm and angina,I applied for a job looking after homeless animals they didnt feel I was suited too it due to my condition.. I have thought about adoption although outside of Ireland is easier...

# 57

Posted: 20/05/2006 13:45

This is Dracula running the blood bank. Enough is enough of this disgraceful state of affairs in Ireland. The Medical Council needs to be entirely independent. I call upon Ms Mary Harney TD to act immediately to redress this urgent violation of a patient's right to complain about unlawful and unethical practices.

If you aren't satisfied with complaints to The Medical Council, whom do you go to? This should be discussed in the Dail as a matter of urgency. The Medical Practioners Act, 1978, needs to be amended to stop this closing of ranks by doctors self-regulating doctors. What a charade by The Medical Council on well paid junkets.

-------------

"John Madden Posted: 18/03/2006 18:49

Three years ago I had an altercation with a Consultant following his negligent treatment of my mothe. I discussed censure by the medical council to which he replied "There is no point in threatening me with the Medical Council, I am ON the medical Council!" That comment was witnessed by ten of his colleagues at a meeting. He was then and is currently a member of the board of the Medical Council. The hospital conceded to negligence, but he is still at large.

Mary"

# 56

Posted: 05/05/2006 08:58

Fiona, I'm not sure what you mean about an implant? How would this stand in your way of adopting another child?

# 55

Posted: 02/05/2006 14:30

NP.Ihad 4 previous sections and my monthly period was veryheavy and painful, he himself..Mr Neary suggested withou inetigtion that I probably had endemitriouses, I just had the one visit withhimone month later i had my whob removed.. If I knew then what I know now. I would have not had it done,I am now 42 and seeking to adopt another child, but my implant may stand in my wy, at least in Ireland..

# 54

Posted: 01/05/2006 16:57

there has to be a whole new thinking about doctors, consultants, the whole medical profession, the culture of never suspecting them of making bad judgemnts has to go,In the USA for example the patient and their carers ask to see the consultants
C.V. look into his background,
how successful or not successful
he has been in the past. find out more about who is making decisions on whether you live or die. get more informed, there should be a league table on say how successful certain types of
surgrey have been, how may have lived or died under the particular surgeons. get more informed about what is going on around you. Its frightening to stand up and ask the right questions about these peoples
careers. especially about their
outcomes treating patients, more openness is called for. I think people will have to educated themselves, I am coming from where
when I asked a junior doctor about what an MRI scan was for, he said it was only for your brain. the consultant said he was in awe of his own genius and
because we trusted him a terrible tragedy befell us. its not what he told us its what he did not tell us about his expertise. we did not know the right questions to ask. we know now but its too
late. I have an interest in fluoridation and this week Irish dentists opposing fluoridation
(IDOF) have come out strongly against it because there is a 40%
increase in bone cancer in the republic of ireland towards the north of ireland. I am interested
as my young 18 years old daughter #was wiped of this earth with bone cancer a very deadly cancer.

# 53

Posted: 27/03/2006 16:57

my confidence is completely shattered it was not Dr Nearys
actions which frighten me, its
the actions of the three consultants and those around Dr Neary which enabled him to carry on. what can people do to protect themselves thats what I want to do.

# 52

Posted: 27/03/2006 14:10

The 3 Irish experts reviewed 9 of Neary's postpartum hysterectomies(more than each of them might expect to do in a whole career) and concluded that he was so wonderful that the people of Louth were lucky to have him. One British expert reviewed the same cases and said his actions were indefensible. What does this tell us? They have been named. I hope they now have to give a full account of themselves in public and NOT to another group of medical "experts". They have done immense damage to the medical profession in this country.
When I mentioned "unrealistic expectations in a previous post, (I would have thought it was obvious that I was referring to medicine in general, not Dr Neary specifically.)

# 51

Posted: 23/03/2006 21:45

the three consultants should be named urgently. I could understand one getting it wrong but not three. what does this tell us.

# 50

Posted: 23/03/2006 18:03

Neary yes but what of all the others involved and especially the RCOB who judged that he was doing the right thing! Heads must roll if there is any justice.

# 49

Posted: 23/03/2006 09:13

Anonymous, to go into hospital as a healthy young mother to be and expect to come out with your reproductive organs intact is NOT an unrealistic expectation.
The vast majotity of obs/gyn\' of Neary\'s experience are perfetly capapble of making an accurate diagnosis and treatment without resorting to surgery which is totally unneccessary.
Many women in the Neary case did not require any diagnosis and the only \'cure\' reqired was a healthy baby and a healthy mother with all her organs intact.

# 48

Posted: 22/03/2006 16:13

I feel very worried when I hear
3 consultants backed up Mr Neary,
Its very serious when he had so much support from within the irish medical profession. Its looks to me that its a closed shop, the three consultants should be struck off and nothing less. we are dealing with peoples lives here wake up.

# 47

Posted: 22/03/2006 14:15

Patients nowadays often have unrealistic expectations of medicine. There is a tendency think no matter what the symptoms, a doctor should be able to make an accurate diagnosis and dish out a cure immediately. Medicine is not an exact science and diagnoses are not always easy nor cures always available. Doctors often carry out tests and investigations which they feel are medically unnecessary because they fear litigation on the part of the patient. This is not healthy either. Trust has been lost on both sides at this stage. I think the majority of doctors do their best in often difficult circumstances. Then there are the ones like Dr Neary who let the whole side down.

# 46

Posted: 21/03/2006 16:01

It is an unequal relationship
the medical profession and the patient, everything is in favour
of the medical profession, we have been too trusting as a whole nation,through ingorance of medical matters, fear, and bullying, they would be afraid of the law, but it is too costly,
in other EU countries there is free legal aid in belgium for example even the court appoint an expert witness when you take them to court for justice. People will just have to get up and take control and stop being victims.

# 45

Posted: 21/03/2006 13:21

Isn't everyone getting a bit carried away here? There are, without doubt, doctors who abuse their power and we need a machanism to prevent this. It should not be tolerated in any way. However, from reading this discussion so far, the impression given is that every single doctor is out to get us all. This is just not true. Some perspective is called for.

# 44

Posted: 21/03/2006 11:38

Pebble I am not defending the nurses in question but when you are depending on your livlihood to keep a roof of your head and pay the bills and keep food in your kids bellies, being told by any powerful person in any industry that if you went any further with your enquiries "you will never work ain your prefession in this country again" - or words to that effect is a pretty strong threat , especially when you are given the impression by all those around you that the person making the threats has the power to carry them out.

# 43

Posted: 20/03/2006 20:26

Is everyone still of the opinion that he performed these ops alone? Co-operating in my eyes is equally as criminal and I'm sure the many victims don't feel too forgiving towards them either. Everyone has morals and a mind of their own; which is why I can't understand why anyone agreed to work alongside him at those times.
I was a care-nurse for years (and believe me I could write a book) and if I felt very uncomfortable about something I did stand up for myself. Consequences don't come into it if it's serious.

# 42

Posted: 20/03/2006 16:10

To the best of knowledge, Free lagal aid, refers only to criminal cases and as far as I am aware, Neary has not been charged (as yet anyway) with any criminal charge.

In theory, you see - Dr's are supposed to be on the side of patients (against illness / disease) but this is not the case sometimes.

# 41

Posted: 20/03/2006 15:44

if patients got free legal aid,
it would be an equal society, doctors have the health boards behind them with their enormous
budgets, what has a patient got
behind him nothing to fight with.
its an unequal unfair society.
so we go on suffering . we need free legal aid for patients.

# 40

Posted: 20/03/2006 11:51

some of the wrst criminals in this country get the best free legal aid, but if you have suffered at the hand of the medical you cannot get free legal aid. so it puts honest people off
trying to get justice. so the medical profession have nothing to fear in this country.as they have the power and money and the ordinary patient is totally disadvantaged.

# 39

Posted: 20/03/2006 09:24

Anonymous, I am not sure about "gurriers" gettign free legal aid but I know it's decided on income and ability to pay.

# 38

Posted: 18/03/2006 18:49

Three years ago I had an altercation with a Consultant following his negligent treatment of my mothe. I discussed censure by the medical council to which he replied "There is no point in threatening me with the Medical Council, I am ON the medical Council!" That comment was witnessed by ten of his colleagues at a meeting. He was then and is currently a member of the board of the Medical Council. The hospital conceded to negligence, but he is still at large.

# 37

Posted: 16/03/2006 21:10

until patients can get free legal
aid like all the gurriers in this country the medical profession can do what they like.

# 36

Posted: 16/03/2006 17:14

Franco, not all Dr.s do their best. There have been bad apples over of the years and this deso detract from good Dr's in the public mind.

# 35

Posted: 16/03/2006 16:46

I cant believe the time it took for someone to speak out.Allthose who knew what was going on will have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

# 34

Posted: 16/03/2006 11:42

Yes Doctor - unfortunately the minority of them who hold the power can influence decisions at the cabinet table and it is all in the interest of their own power and position but being sold to the public as being for patient safety. But we Irish will put up with this and our second grade, or is that third grade, health service as we are not a nation to complain!!!

# 33

Posted: 16/03/2006 11:21

Doctors do their best and that's all nayone can do there is always one rotten apple in every basket ---don't blacken all doctors and it's not all about money.

# 32

Posted: 16/03/2006 10:06

As a doctor, I find it hard to read all these comments without taking them personally, but I have to agree with much of what has been said. Imagine being a junior under one of these self styled gods!
I did most of my training in the UK and nearly 20 years ago it was compulsory to have monthly morbidity and mortality meetings where each team had to present statistics showing how many of each procedure they had done in the previous month, how many developed complications and what the outcomes were. Sample cases of complications were dicsussed in detail. Attendance was compulsory for all concerned. It was a drag being the one who had to prepare all this but was a good teaching tool for juniors and consultants alike and I would imagine, would vastly reduce the chances of a Dr Neary going unchallenged. On return to Ireland, I found consultants to be far more "godlike", unquestionable and full of their own importance. Not a healthy situation as we now know to out cost, but these people will fight to the end to hang onto power.

# 31

Posted: 16/03/2006 01:42

Hey Fiona---do you mind if I ask under what circumstances did this procedure come about?? What symptoms had you been having?

# 30

Posted: 16/03/2006 00:58

Dr Neary undoubtedly did lots of damage and neither his actions or the attempted cover-up (by either him or his partners in crime... yes crime) should be allowed to get away with it.
For any penalty to be effective, it must be exemplary.

Regarding confidence in the profession?
While it certainly did the profession no good, it will not make a whit of difference as to the way I feel about my GP, my urologist consultant or my opthalmic consultant.
By the wy, all 3 are excellent, friendly and encouraging professionals.
Yes there are lots of unsung good people "out there" in the medical profession who do marvellous work. Don't gorget them!

# 29

Posted: 15/03/2006 17:05

I do not trust the medical profession to police themselves

# 28

Posted: 15/03/2006 17:04

I have no confidence in the medical profession. The majority see themselves as superior to patients. This, no matter how educated or health aware that patient might be. A recent (3 minutes - I timed it) consultation with a local GP cost me 50 euro. While being ushered out, I had to INSIST on the sensible test being done. It was of no avail. They lost the result. I then travelled North and the test and results were produced immediately. I was advised, with courtesy, on how the problem could be dealt with. Under EU regulations, the consultation cost me nothing.

# 27

Posted: 15/03/2006 10:46

Fiona, do contact Patient Focus as they may be ablr to help, advise or investigate.

# 26

Posted: 14/03/2006 19:38

Chana.. if you know any imformation about this topic please contact me.. address available.. I suffered severe depression afterwards, an I.C.D. is an implantable cardio defribulator, in other words when my heart dosent work, it does. all of which I relate to ignorance in our hospitals.. I am typing with one hand due to my recent implant in Istanbul..please help would love to understand why my life or choice was taken away from me... Fiona

# 25

Posted: 14/03/2006 12:23

Fiona, I don't know what an ICD implant is but I do know that the Patient Focus group have been very helpful with regards to the women involved in the Neary case.