The death took place on January 5 last of Dr Con Don Creedon, The Demesne, Dunmanway, Co Cork, at James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown, after a long illness.

He was son of the late John and Gretta Creedon of Creedon’s Hotel, Inchigeelagh, and one of three in a family of 14 who qualified in medicine.
Of historical interest, during the Civil War, opposing leaders Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera stayed in the hotel on one night in 1922, each unaware of the other’s presence.

The young Con Don attended the local national school, and was a native Gaelic speaker. He subsequently attended St Finbarr’s College, Farranferris, where he excelled at his studies and was a formidable sportsman, playing both Gaelic football and hurling.

After completing his Leaving Cert, he entered St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, as a seminarian. However, he decided the priesthood was not his vocation, and subsequently left to complete his BA studies in UCC. He then entered the Medical Faculty, where he led a very active college life. He was outgoing, gregarious and very popular with his peers.

He qualified in 1970, completing his internship in the South Infirmary, followed by his obstetrical and paediatric training at the Erinville and Mercy hospitals.

In 1973, he was successful in his application as medical officer to the Dunmanway/Coolmountain dispensary area, where he worked all his life.
He proved very popular with patients due to his outgoing and pleasant personality, and built up a very large practice. He was extremely kind to the poor and marginalised and had a large cohort of patients from the hippy community.

His non-judgmental personality and extraordinary insight made it easy for him to empathise with their problems. It has been said that he was the first GP to attend surgery in denims!

He was one of a group of West Cork GPs, under the direction of Dr Michael Boland, who were involved in the preparatory work for the formation of the fledgling Irish College of General Practitioners, and became a founding member in 1984. He subsequently successfully sat for membership of the English College. His special interest was dermatology, in which he had a Diploma, and he also had Diplomas in Child Health and Obstetrics.
Con was truly at his happiest in the surgery, because he enjoyed people so much.

Anecdotes about him abound. One day a chronic patient reappeared after an unusually long absence of a month, and on seeing her in the distance he shouted, “Mary, I haven’t seen you for weeks, you must have been sick”.

Or the Sunday morning as he was getting ready for Mass, when a drunk called to the house. Blood pouring down his face, he cited, “Oh Johnny, did you cut yourself shaving again this morning?” However, he also had a serious side. Away from the public persona he was a prolific reader and profound thinker, who liked nothing better than to escape to his holiday home in Goleen, on the Mizen peninsula, and enjoy the landscape and a good book.

He was a great family man, and he was very lucky to have such a wonderful, supportive wife in Freda, who cared unselfishly for their seven children, all of whom adored their parents.

Life was to change radically in March 2008 when he was struck by a freak wave while on holiday in Australia, fracturing his atlas and axis. His cord was spared, and after spending several months in recovery, he was airlifted home.

By sheer stoicism and intensive physiotherapy, he returned to work in the new local Primary Care Centre. His catchphrase always was, “any morning you can put your right leg on the floor is a good one”.

But unfortunately, one day his progress was halted when he commented that he had difficulty in swallowing. His fears were realised, and he underwent radical surgery, preceded by adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which alas only bided time.

But in true Con Don spirit, he remained positive throughout his treatment, always hoping that he would win this battle also. He never complained, always managed a joke and a smile, and showed unyielding forbearance and dignity.

But on January 5 in the presence of his family at his bedside, and after receiving a blessing from his brother Fr Gerard, he passed away peacefully.
Friends and colleagues came from all over the country to pay their respects by attending his funeral. He enriched all our lives, and his passing makes the world a lesser place. He was a loyal and trusted friend who will be sadly missed by all who had the privilege to know him, but by none more so than Freda and his family.

Ní bheidh a leitheid ann arís.

Sincere sympathy to his wife Freda (nee Rice) and children Fiona, Conal, Jason, Tracey, Rickard, Freddy and Donna.

— S.O.D.

Dr Ursula O'Neill

Dr Ursula O’Neill, who died in August, was the daughter of the late Dr Bill and Patricia Loughnane of Feakle, Co Clare. Her brother, Dr Tony, and younger sister Margie died before her, both at a young age. Her sister Moya and brother Billy are her surviving siblings.

On qualification from UCD, Ursula interned at the Mater Hospital in Dublin and then worked in the Coombe and Limerick Regional Hospital. All her professional life was spent in Athlone as a general practitioner, first as a single-handed practitioner and in the last few years with the Dr Tony Lowry Practice.

The Loughnane family were very musical. Dr Bill was a traditional fiddler and Ursula and Tony played accordion. As a schoolgirl, Ursula played in a trio with Bill and Tony, winning prizes at Fleadhanna. Ursula went to UCD at 16 to study medicine and made many friends. There she expanded her interests; she had a working knowledge of racing greyhounds but that interest was put ‘on the back burner’.

She represented the College at swimming and had a particular interest in hurling and football, especially when County Clare was involved. She was associated medically with the Clare footballers when they won the Munster Championship, but her great love was the hurlers and they won the McCarthy Cup in 1995 and 1997.

Ursula had developed breast cancer and had surgery and chemotherapy in those years and said she would tolerate further surgery if it coincided with further success for Clare!

Ursula was an extraordinary person. Her humanity, generosity and groundedness were her defining characteristics. She coped heroically with serious health problems all her adult life and got on with it.

She was fiercely loyal to her friends and colleagues and had strong principles and the courage of her convictions. She had a quality of innocence, which was born of the belief that all people are basically good. It wasn’t that she was naive but that she saw the goodness in people and she wanted them to exercise it.

Her passions were her family — Terry her husband, Olaf, Grainne, Fiona and finally her adored grandson Harry — her work, swimming and her Gaelic sports interest. Travel and music became another feature of her life, acting also as a goal during her various grueling treatments.

Ursula was fearless speaking out about the exigencies of her own experiences with illness and memorably wrote about what it was like to be in service to the Health Board while she was moribund. She was associated with a number of charities and began swimming in Triathlons to raise funds especially for the South Westmeath Hospice. She completed the swimming leg of her last triathlon held in Athlone only a few weeks before she died. Appropriately, she was raising funds for the hospice.

She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Her funeral mass was a true celebration of her life with beautiful singing by a neighbour and music from Kilfinora.
She was buried in her beloved Co Clare at Fanore in a simple but very moving ceremony. She is sadly missed by her family and by all who knew and loved her.

— MM/AM/RJW

Dr Jack Flanagan

Ireland’s first physician in geriatric medicine, Dr Jack Flanagan, passed away recently after a long and illustrious career in medicine

Jack Flanagan, who has died at the age of 91, was the first to practise as a physician in geriatric medicine in Ireland – a specialty that is now the largest medical specialty in Ireland, with over 70 consultants. John Joseph (Jack) Flanagan was born in Dublin in 1919 and was raised in Skerries in the north of Co Dublin. He was the youngest of eight children of William Herbert and Mary Flanagan. He attended Belvedere and Castleknock Colleges and studied medicine at UCD, graduating in 1943.

He spent seven years in London pursuing post-graduate training and returned to Ireland in 1949 to take up a position in St Mary’s Hospital in the Phoenix Park as a chest physician. He was awarded a MD (NUI) in 1954 for a thesis on tuberculosis. Recognising that tuberculosis was on the decline in the 1960s, he sought a new specialty interest and in 1964, he transferred as to what was then known as St Kevin’s Hospital, later renamed St James’s Hospital. There was a large population of elderly patients resident in the hospital at that time that came under his care.

Throughout its history, the hospital (which was formerly the site of the South Dublin Union) had a strong tradition of service to the poor and the elderly people of south Dublin. Jack was determined that the hospital should retain and develop this commitment to the elderly that had evolved from former times. In 1967, he was awarded a World Health Organization fellowship, which enabled him to visit geriatric medical centres in Great Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark. Jack was impressed that the Netherlands and Denmark had come fully to accept that care of the elderly was no longer a matter of charity, but was an essential and integral part of a modern health service.
He brought back home an appreciation of the large amount of work remaining to be done in Ireland to address the medical care of elderly patients.

State of care
In 1969, Jack wrote on the state of the medical care of the elderly in Ireland. Many district and psychiatric hospitals, including hospitals which had been largely devoted to the care of tuberculosis, had more and more of their beds filled with elderly patients, where they were allowed to remain without proper active assessment and rehabilitation of potentially treatable medical illnesses and conditions.

Together with a small handful of geriatrician colleagues appointed around the same time in Ireland, Jack strongly advocated the philosophy of what an ideal geriatric medical service should provide: a closely organised unit on the campus of a full-scale general hospital, with access to all acute services. This would thus maintain the sick, elderly person in the mainstream of medical care.

The aim was to provide a comprehensive medical service for the over-65s age group by keeping the patient independent and at home where possible, with close liaison with GP, nursing and home-care services. They founded the Irish Society of Physicians in Geriatric Medicine and Jack was one of its first chairmen. Jack still attended national meetings of the Irish geriatricians until well after his retirement.

He also developed the first day-hospital in Ireland, which enabled patients to receive the full range of medical, nursing and therapy diagnostic and treatment services without requiring an inpatient stay. In 2008, the Jack Flanagan Medal in Gerontology was instituted by the Dublin Ageing Research Network to honour his pioneering contribution to medical care of the elderly in Ireland. The medal is competed for annually amongst the Irish medical schools.

Jack was also a founding partner of Contactors Medical Bureau, Ireland’s first GP deputising service and up until a short time before his passing, he still maintained an active part in the running of the Bureau. Jack believed in active living and full engagement all his life and he followed this philosophy until the end. He was a keen sailor since childhood. He raced national 18-foot dinghies in Skerries and in competition around the country. He was Commodore of Skerries Sailing Club from 1961 to 1963 and with others, he ran a very successful Irish Dinghy Racing Association Week in 1961.

In 1971, he bought his first cruiser and sailed and raced his boats from Howth. Putting into practice what he preached in geriatric medicine, he cruised extensively with family and friends until his eighties and was a member of the Irish Cruising Club. Jack was married to Eta Counihan for 60 years, receiving support and encouragement from her in all his activities.

He was a man of wide general interests which they shared, in particular an interest in their various gardens and they travelled extensively together in later years.
He had a large circle of friends of all ages until he died in the excellent care of the staff of St James’s Hospital, where he had worked for so many years.

Jack Flanagan is survived by his wife Eta, sons Declan and Raymond, daughters Finola, Adrienne and Emer and 13 grandchildren.

Trinity College Dublin has said it is ‘stunned’ over the fate of the three doctors on the missing Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
Dr Aisling Butler from Roscrea, Dr Jane Deasy from Dublin and Dr Eithne Walls from Co Down were all friends who graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2007.

Provost of Trinity College Dublin, Dr John Hegarty, said that the College, and in particular the staff and students of the School of Medicine, extended their deepest sympathies to the Butler, Deasy and Walls families at this most difficult time. “The loss of such young, vibrant and promising women at the outset of their careers in medicine, and in such tragic circumstances, has stunned the College from which they so recently graduated.
“Our thoughts are with the families and their classmates,” said Dr Hegarty.
The three doctors — all in their 20s — were returning from holiday in Brazil when tragedy struck. At the time of going to press, it was still unclear as to the whereabouts of the Air France Airbus A330, which disappeared over the Atlantic with 228 people on board.
Dr Aisling Butler, from Roscrea in Co Tipperary, celebrated her 26th birthday just two weeks ago. She was doing an internship in Tallaght Hospital and was a Senior House Officer in the hospital’s Emergency Department. She was due to move to St James’s Hospital at the NCHD changeover next month. Her friend, Dr Jane Deasy from Rathgar, was also an Intern at AMNCH, Tallaght.
Dr Eithne Walls, from Ballygowan in Co Down, worked at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin and it is understood she hoped to become an eye surgeon. Eithne joined the Ophthalmic team at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear in January and was described by members of that team as a ‘vibrant, young, energetic, talented, enthusiastic doctor’. Her friend, Dr Jane Deasy was due to join her there on July 1. A service was held in Tallaght Hospital this week for all the people on Flight AF 447.

Dr Karl Mullen, who captained the team that won Ireland’s first Grand Slam, has died at the age of 82. He was educated at Belvedere College and practised as a gynaecologist.
He passed away at his home in Kilcullen, Co Kildare. He led Ireland’s Five Nations team to the ultimate prize in Northern hemisphere rugby in 1948 at the age of 22 — an achievement unequalled until Declan Kidney’s team won the Grand Slam earlier this year.

He also captained the British and Irish Lions on their tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1950.
He won 25 international caps for Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s, playing at hooker. Dr Jack Kyle, one of the heroes during Mullen’s tenure as Grand Slam captain, said he was a wonderful leader and player.
“We were both medical students when we first played together for an Ireland XV against the British Army in 1945,” said Kyle.
“Karl was very unassuming, and certainly didn’t push his weight around when he was captain. He was quietly authoritative and a superb technical player.”

Tony Craig was born and reared in Dublin. He was educated at Armagh Road and Templeogue College. He studied Medicine at RCSI on St Stephen’s Green and qualified in 1979.
He interned at the Richmond Hospital and from there, he began a career in surgery, working in various parts of the country including Navan, Cork and Dublin.

He then took a different path and changed to pursue a career in general practice.
Having experienced various NCHD specialty posts and GP locums, he set up a general practice in a newly-built area of Clondalkin, Dublin in 1988. He worked there single-handedly as a practitioner until his sudden passing last year.
Tony took immense pride in his work as a doctor and his relationship with his patients. In many cases, in latter years, he cared for three generations of families.
He was a dedicated, conscientious and much-loved GP. He took so much pride in himself for being ‘down to earth’ and was always able to relate to people on their terms. He was particularly empathetic in his approach to the elderly and young children. As one patient wrote, “Doctor forever had a smile to share, and always took time to care.”
He developed a spec-ial interest in drug addiction. He was the first GP to become involved in the Aisling Methadone Maintenance Clinic at Cherry Orchard, which was established in the early 1990s for HIV/AIDS sufferers.
He, in latter years, then carried on his interest as a Level 2 GP, offering detoxification and maintenance programmes for opiate addicts at his practice in Clondalkin.
He was particularly interested in and always worked hard at early intervention with young addicts.
He also retained his earlier interest in surgery by carrying out many minor surgical procedures in the practice.
Tony was a kind, generous, sincere and fun-loving person who lived life to the full.
He had a keen interest in foreign travel. He pursued many hobbies in his life, most recently flying small aircraft.
Tony became ill suddenly and died after a short time at Tallaght Hospital, where he received exceptional care in the intensive care unit.
He is survived by his wife, Dr Colette Halpin, two sons, his mother and two sisters.
In death he joins his youngest son, his beloved Stuart.
May they rest together in eternal love and peace.
— CH

The world’s most famous heart surgeon, Michael E. DeBakey, died this month aged ninety-nine.
Dr DeBakey’s career spanned seventy years, sixty of which he spent at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, where he passed away on July 11.

He was recognised as the father of cardiovascular surgery whose pioneering spirit earned him several firsts in heart and blood vessel surgery.
He was the first to perform coronary artery bypass grafting in humans, first to perform carotid endarterectomy, first to develop and use ventricular assist devices to aid the failing heart, and first to use Dacron artificial grafts, which he devised.
Dr DeBakey was also the first to develop Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units in World War II and was instrumental in establishing the National Library of Medicine in the US, the world’s largest and most prestigious repository of medical records.
During his career, he performed over 60,000 heart surgeries, routinely working 18-hour days, and continued to operate into his nineties. His work was recognised with numerous awards and honorary degrees from institutions all over the globe.
In 1999 he was awarded the United Nations Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2000, he was recognised by the Library of Congress as a ‘Living Legend’. He continued to live for another decade after that, despite undergoing and surviving complex surgery himself to repair a leaking thoracic aortic aneurysm when he was 96 – the surgical technique he had devised years earlier.
Earlier this year, Dr Michael Ellis DeBakey was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George Bush — the highest civilian award bestowed by the US Congress and one of only 196 awarded since 1776. With this award, he is in the company of George Washington, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II.
Born in Louisiana in 1908, Dr Michael DeBakey arguably raised the standards in medical care throughout the world through his influential work and stunning achievements over almost one hundred years of productive life.

Dr Malachy Powell, KM, MD, FRCPI, DPH, BSc, LAH (1913-2007) is remembered for his contribution to medicine over an era that ran from pre-antibiotics to the MRI scanner.
Dr Malachy Powell, who died in June 2007, was a well-known figure in Irish medical circles. During his lifetime, he witnessed his profession pass from the pre-antibiotic era to the MRI scanner and his country change from a colonial state to a respected nation within Europe.

Malachy enjoyed his school days at Belvedere College, which he entered in 1925. Among the highlights he referred to was a school trip to Rome, where the boys were given an audience with Pope Pius XI.
Having seen the ‘White Pope’, the boys were taken to see the ‘Black Pope’ (as the Father General of the Jesuits was known). Even though only 16 at the time, he remarked how the Belvedere Jesuits, who had remained standing for part of the Papal audience, all remained kneeling throughout the session with their Father General! It was at Belvedere that he got his first taste of opera, playing King Hildebrand in Princess Ida. A remarkable photograph of him exists in full theatrical regalia, including helmet and spear, taken in the schoolyard in 1932.
He studied medicine at University College Dublin and continued his interest in opera at the Musical Society when he produced The Pirates of Penzance and Patience in the ‘Aula Maxima’ of Newman House.
He had happy recollections of his student days, but often emphasised how ‘hard-up’ the students of the time were. Amongst the extracurricular activities he engaged in (to raise badly needed funds) was being a part-time news broadcaster on Irish radio.
He described the sound effects of the time as consisting of four gramophone records which catered for most situations – one of cheering crowds (which he used as a background to news of Nazi rallies in Nuremburg, as well as for local political meetings in Ireland), one of marching troops (used as background to the German Army entering Austria and the Blueshirts marching in Dublin), another of seagulls crying, water lapping and a ship’s horn, and the fourth was the sound of a train pulling out of a station.
Having qualified in 1938, he spent an intern year in the Mater Hospital in Dublin, an exceptional experience at that time and one which he valued greatly. He joined the Army Medical Corps during the ‘Emergency’ in 1940 and served as a Captain in the Curragh Camp, where he treated not only the sick of the Irish Army, but also German, British and IRA prisoners who were interned there. He was required to lecture to Irish Officer Cadets in the Military College on health matters and was amused that his talk on ‘Lice, Scabies and VD’ was received with particular attention by this audience. He retired from the army in 1947 with the rank of Commandant and Officer Commanding the 1st Field Ambulance to join the Department of Health, where he remained for the next 34 years.
During his time there, he interacted with several Ministers of Health, most of whom he admired. These included Dr James Ryan (‘constructive and experienced’), Tom O’Higgins (‘courteous and considerate’), Sean McEntee (‘a fine minister’), Sean Flanagan (‘very popular and efficient’) and Erskine Childers (‘careful and conscientious’).
The aspects of his work in the Department of which he was most proud included the initiation of a National Training Scheme for the Ambulance Service, the development of the first Dublin Major Accident Plan, the chairing of a European Committee on Radioactive Waste Management Practices in Western Europe, and his involvement as Chairman of the post-graduate training scheme for radiologists (for which he was later awarded an Honorary Fellowship and the Faculty of Radiologists’ highest award, the Desmond Riordan Gold Medal).
Outside of his work, he found time to be a longstanding Secretary and then President of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, Registrar and subsequently Governor of the Apothecaries Hall in Ireland, and Director of the Ambulance Corps of the Order of Malta — and then Chancellor of that organisation.
His role in the Order of Malta led to his co-ordination of the medical support services for the Pope’s visit to Dublin in 1979, a major logistical exercise for the estimated one million people who congregated in the Phoenix Park for the Papal Mass. He later received the Papal award of Knight of St Gregory for these and other services. As well as these multiple activities, he maintained his interest in writing and the media. He was one of the first medical correspondents for The Irish Times, writing under the pseudonyms of ‘Aescelepius’ and ‘Senex’.
He was a regular contributor to Irish Medical Times for many years, mostly on matters relating to medical history and latterly producing a series on the heraldic symbols in the health service. He also recorded several episodes of Sunday Miscellany, which were broadcast on RTE radio.
Although not a great admirer of the works of James Joyce, as a Dubliner he was proud that his grandfathers on both sides, William Gallagher (his maternal grandfather) and Major Malachi Powell (on the paternal side) achieved a certain kind of immortality by each appearing separately in Joyce’s Ulysses. He would have been wryly amused had he known that 16 June was to be the day that he would depart this world.
He is sadly missed by his wife Maura and children Betty, David, Brendan, Frank and Sheila.
Requiescat in pace

Dr John Dillon passed away peacefully in May after a long career in medicine and many great sporting achievements — ‘One of the good ones is gone’.
There are many reasons why John would not have wanted this written about him, but high on the list would be his total modesty and reticence to embrace the limelight. Many very high achievers claim, or have it claimed about them, that they are humbled by their successes, but in John’s case, I firmly believe it to be the truth.

At his funeral mass, among the shocked congregation in a packed church in Rathgar, I heard it repeatedly said that ‘one of the good ones is gone’. That is totally true, he was indeed one of the good ones, but what surprised a great number of the mourners was hearing about some of his many achievements detailed in a moving oration by his old friend and colleague, Dr Patrick White.
I myself had the privilege of knowing John for more than 25 years, and have been on many holidays with him, but I was astonished to hear that he still holds athletic records from his days in Trinity – apparently, nobody has bettered his times, either for the 100 metres or the 400 metres, since then. His 400-metre hurdles record was unbroken for more than 11 years. I had no inkling of this – he had never said a word. That was typical of the man.
John came from a medical background. His father William ran a very successful general practice between Chapelizod and Ballyfermot. He graduated with distinction as a Trinity Scholar in 1974, but did not seem destined to become a GP.
Having effortlessly secured his MRCPI, he was being groomed and steered towards a career as a nephrologist when, to the surprise and, it must be said, disappointment of his hospital colleagues, he made the decision to turn his back on hospital medicine and join his father in the Chapelizod practice.
He embraced this with enthusiasm, innovation and a good deal of hard work. He expanded and modernised the practice, became very involved with the medical education of both students and vocational trainees, but all along was a caring and compassionate doctor to his many patients.
It was at this time that John met his wife Zita O’Reilly, when she was on an attachment to the practice, and it was a case of love at first sight. I clearly remember John, at that time, telling a small group of his friends that he had just met someone very special. It had to be very, very special and true, because he was always slow to discuss these matters with us, but he was totally correct.
They were married the following year and blessed with three wonderful children – Luke, Jane and Rosie. Both Luke and Rosie have followed their father into medicine, while Jane is currently spending an Erasmus year as a student in Sweden. After her vocational training, Zita joined John in the practice, at first part-time and as the children grew older, as a full-time partner.
No matter what sport John participated in, he excelled. He was a winger on the Trinity rugby team virtually all through college, while still finding time for his glittering athletic career. He was a first-class horseman, somewhat regretfully dropping that sport because of time pressures. He represented Ireland at windsurfing in the European Championships, and was an accomplished and enthusiastic sailor. He was an enthusiastic tennis player both in Fitzwilliam and Brookfield tennis clubs.
He was a first-class skier, but eventually saw the light and changed over to snowboarding ten years ago. His love for sailing was a major influence when it came to building a second home in Baltimore, West Cork, where the family set down roots in both the holiday and local communities and enjoyed many years of the good life there.
In 2003, John developed a malignant melanoma. He struggled through two major surgeries and further treatment without one moment’s complaining, no expression of victimhood, only a determination to get on with his life. He returned to the practice, working virtually full-time, and even managed to get back to many of his sporting interests — even skiing and snowboarding.
He had four very good and fulfilling years with his family, his colleagues and his friends until, shortly before Christmas last, the tumour returned. John bore his terminal illness with braveness and his always-present dignity. It seems almost a cliché to say here that he was helped all along by his family, but that would be a gross understatement.
Zita and the children were a tower of strength in a time of great personal tragedy and suffering, and John Dillon passed away peacefully, in the company and presence of his family, in his own home on the night of Saturday, 10 May.
I think that I can truly speak for his many colleagues and friends when saying that we are immeasurably poorer without his calmness, his quiet wisdom and his support in our own problems.
To reiterate what was said above, one of the good ones is gone. Along with Zita, Luke, Jane, Rosie, with John’s parents, his brothers and sisters, we salute the memory of a remarkable doctor and man.
— Dr J O’K

Dr Bill Casey passed away peacefully after a short illness and will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.
William Bernard (Bill) Casey pass-ed away peacefully on 17 April 2008. A native of Clifden, Co Galway, Bill was the only son of local GP Dr Joseph Casey and was the third generation of his family to graduate from the Royal College of Surgeons.
As a young doctor, he witnessed at first hand the ravages of TB, typhus, typhoid and diphtheria in Connemara.

A plaque on Ballyconneely beach commemorates his role in rescuing a number of American World War II fighter pilots suffering from exposure in the Atlantic. Bill was appointed as dispensary doctor to the seaside village of Duncannon, New Ross, Co. Wexford in the late 1950s.
At that time, there was no such thing as an out of hours co-operative, and support from hospitals and other services – apart from the local public health nurse – was minimal.
His contract essentially was that he would live in the area and provide medical services to those living in Duncannon and the surrounding townlands. He worked in a rota with his colleague at Fethard-on-Sea and they covered each other for weekends and for holidays.
His approach to practice was patient centred. The patient was what mattered. People called to his surgery and the door was always open, more or less at all hours. You went in the door and down a corridor. The second door on the left was his consulting room and the third door was the kitchen. If he was not in his consulting room, he could be found in the kitchen or the garden, which he loved.
You told him you had arrived and he said he would see you shortly and so he would.
His way with children had become legendary in the area. Much of his success with children centred around the fact that he had a mouse (or it was supposed to have been a mouse) in his pocket.
Few have ever actually seen that mouse, but many think that they did. In short, children loved him and a trip to his surgery was regarded as a treat. He was an excellent diagnostician and his patients after his death recounted endless unusual and some indeed quite obscure diagnoses that were eventually made, mainly because of his ability to decide something just wasn’t quite right in someone he knew very well.
He was a keen sportsman and frequently went shooting with his GP colleague from the neighbouring practice. These shooting expeditions would involve getting up early and much fuss over dogs and sometimes were short lived, as on occasion a runner would have been sent to inform one or other of the doctors that an ill patient had arrived and needed to be seen urgently.
He was a keen fisherman and loved to fish the rivers in the west of Ireland. He attended the Listowel races annually. His patients tell me that he never bought a race card but avidly studied the form in the newspaper before the event and, on the day, was an authority on every horse that ran. He liberally dispensed his advice on potential winners to anyone he met on the occasion.
Bill retired some 18 years or so ago. However, he stayed in practice and still, as he used to say himself, ‘saw a few at the house’ right up until the onset of his last illness a mere six weeks before he passed away.
Some of the older patients from the neighbouring practices who were nervous of the idea of dealing with an out of hours covering service would call on Bill for an opinion as to whether they needed to put in for a visit or not.
Needless to say, he dealt with many of these problems which never had to be seen by the out of hours services. In short, his patients greatly appreciated his dedication and cared deeply for this dignified gentleman, with many of them recounting stories about his fun-loving nature.
He was an excellent father and was very proud of the fact that his daughter Miriam followed in his footsteps, becoming the fourth generation of his family to graduate from the Royal College of Surgeons.
That his son Joseph lives and works in the area of Duncannon was also a source of great satisfaction and happiness to him.
His wife Sheila sadly misses him as a husband, whom she used to refer to as Willie. She was the one who answered the telephone and provided that essential link between him and the patients he cared for. We all say goodbye to an excellent family man, a superb general practitioner and a loyal colleague.
Ar dheis de go raibh anam.
— J.C.