Consultants’ selflessness saved my life

FURTHER to correspondence between the deputy general manager of Cork University Hospital and consultants in Mallow Hospital, as detailed recently in the Irish Examiner (April 4), I, too, wish to state my dissatisfaction with the proposal to curtail surgery hours, albeit possibly on a temporary basis, at Mallow General Hospital.

My case was similar to that of Patrick Walsh, who needlessly and tragically died at Monaghan General Hospital, with the exception that I survived due to the professionalism and lack of selfishness of consultant surgeon Aonghus Twomey and his team along with consultant physician Cornelius Cronin and the staff at Mallow General Hospital.

I was admitted to Mallow Hospital on March 13, 2006, and was operated on on March 17 by Mr Twomey, who himself was detailed for leave on that and subsequent days. In spite of this, he carried out surgery on me for a very rare life-threatening blood disorder and continued to monitor my progress over the following days. I am deemed extremely lucky to be alive because if the surgical team had waited for a couple of hours before operating, my family would now be without a husband and father.