Man left a paraplegic ‘did not need operation’

A 61-YEAR-OLD father of three who was left a paraplegic following an operation to remove a tumour from his spine could have been treated without surgery, the High Court heard yesterday.

John Daly, an accountant from Stoneville, Rathkeale, Co Limerick, who is effectively confined to a wheelchair has brought an action for damages against the Mid Western Health Board, consultant neurosurgeon Dr John Marks, the Cork Clinic, Western Road, Cork, and Dr Alex Stafford, a consultant radiologist at Barringtons Hospital in Limerick, for their alleged negligence for failing to diagnose that in late 2001 he was suffering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

As a result of that, it is claimed Dr Marks surgically removed part of a tumour on December 14, 2001, that left him a paraplegic.