Former driver sues Doctors On Call over stress of the job

A FORMER driver with Carlow Emergency Doctors On Call Limited has begun a High Court action for a stress disorder and bullying against the company arising from a series of accidents, deaths and suicides he allegedly was compelled to witness as a result of his job without any proper training.

He told Mr Justice Sean Ryan the worst flashbacks concerned a woman trapped under her car who was screaming for her daughter as the fire brigade attempted to cut her free.

Martin Fahey, 45, of College Avenue, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, has taken the proceedings against the company with a registered address at The District Hospital, Athy Road, Carlow. The company deny the claims and the case resumes today.

He says he was repeatedly exposed to traumatic scenes of human suffering in the course of attending road traffic accidents, suicides and deaths.

In addition he was obliged to drive at dangerous speeds and perform like an ambulance driver despite receiving no training for his work.

In evidence yesterday, Mr Fahey said he was never trained in what he had to face in his work and had never been asked by his employer how he felt.

“I didn’t know what I was getting into,” he said.

He had been called to a suicide where he saw a man hanging and in another case saw the man being cut down. He had to deal with the families in these situations who would be upset and he had not been instructed in how to deal with an aggrieved spouse.

In another incident a doctor treating a man’s serious head wound had asked him to help at the scene of an accident. He felt as though his hand would stick to the man’s head as the doctor had used a type of glue to treat the wound. He said there was no option to stay put in his car at such times.

It was very hard to wind down after such situations. He did not drink at the time as he had a drink problem when he was younger and had not taken a drink for 18 years. Some doctors, he said, would take a drink after such an accident.

On another occasion he was called to a notoriously bad accident spot on the Carlow/Clonmel road where a man was dying at the scene. He was asked by the doctor present to close the man’s eyes.

In a statement of claim it is submitted Mr Fahey was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and subsequently was referred to a consultant psychiatrist. After a holiday in Spain in May 2004 he became extremely ill and began to misuse medication previously diagnosed to him. He displayed signs of confusion and hallucinations and was admitted to the psychiatric unit of St Joseph’s hospital, Clonmel.