Long-distance diagnosis is not good practice

IN his response to the Neil Prendeville affair, perhaps Dr JB O’Keeffe (Letters, November 10) might have been better advised to write an article on parasomnia for the Irish Examiner and desist from ascribing it to any particular case or event.

I wonder how and why a medical doctor would attempt to “confidently diagnose” anyone long distance, much less publicly announce such a ‘diagnosis’ without assessing them personally, disclosing it to them in privacy and receiving their permission to broadcast the resulting findings of the completed assessment.

This juxtaposition of usual decorum and process in the world of medicine prompts me to wonder if this is a case of adding insult to injury. It adds a professional ethics issue which may prolong the focus on Prendeville – an ironic own-goal against Dr O’Keeffe’s exhortation “to stop the madness for the sake of the family”.