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Opinion: February 2009

Patient groups push rare disease research

Derbhile Dromey | 28 February 2009 | Guests

Derbhile Dromey writes that some patient-led organisations, such as Duchenne Ireland, are stimulating research into medical conditions. Patient-led organisations are playing a powerful role in stimulating research into rare diseases that would not otherwise attract funding. Organisations representing people with... Read more

Appeal by nurse who had killed her husband

Ed Madden | 28 February 2009 | Guests

Ed Madden, BL, on an English High Court case in which a nurse who had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her husband appealed the removal of her name from the nursing register. Wadanalahugedera Chandrasekera, who is originally from Sri... Read more

Medical Miscellany

Terence Cosgrave | 27 February 2009 | Guests

You could be forgiven for feeling a bit jaded from the blanket coverage of all things Darwin. But being as it is the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth (February 12) and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal... Read more

New polls show I have no idea how bad economy is

G.B. | 27 February 2009 | The Inside Back

A poll carried out today by Inside Back shows that 100 per cent of me has no idea how fast the economy is collapsing, nor how far it will fall, nor what the experts have to say about it. It... Read more

Cheer up, it's not the end of the world ... just yet

Dr Mick Molloy | 27 February 2009 | Mick Molloy

Dr Mick Molloy writes that another seminal year could be coming up — or it may even be the end of the world, depending on your sources. Every now and then, a ‘seminal year’ occurs, when important or even world-changing... Read more

Some home truths hit hard in Peru

Dr John Ryan | 26 February 2009 | Letter from America

Dr John Ryan learns how to put the credit crunch in perspective, when he sees what everyday life is like for people living in the deprived areas of Lima. For my flight to Lima, I flew out of Newark airport.... Read more

Patients cook their way to good health

Nycomed | 23 February 2009 | Guests

A unique cookery course, funded by the NHS, is teaching cardiac patients in Scotland how to improve their diet and prevent further heart trouble. Cardiac patients at a Scottish hospital are taking part in a unique cookery course designed to... Read more

No mandate left

Terence Cosgrave | 23 February 2009 | Editorial

Terence Cosgrave says the Minister has no mandate left — from the public, doctors or anyone else. It's time for her to go. In this week’s Irish Medical Times we publish the first results from our GP survey — more... Read more

Cutbacks affect kids' future prospects

Pauline Moylan | 23 February 2009 | Letters

Dear Editor, Let me introduce you to Peter (age 11), Mikey (age 9) and Eve (age 7). They live at 19 St Brigid’s Grove. All three children suffer from a rare metabolic disorder known as glutaric aciduria type 1, of... Read more

TMB provides vaccine on non-profit basis

Dr Graham Fry | 23 February 2009 | Letters

Dear Editor, I write in reply to Dr Michael O’Brien’s letter (IMT, Feb 6, 2009, see www.imt.ie/opinion/2009/02/gps_need_to_make_a_stand_to_ge.html) regarding the price at which the Tropical Medical Bureau (TMB) is providing the Cervarix vaccine. We made a decision to offer the HPV... Read more

Consolidation to transform IT sector in primary care

Helix Health | 20 February 2009 | Guests

GPs have voted in favour of a ground-breaking merger between Helix Health and Health Ireland Partners, reports Irish Medical Times. The GP IT landscape in Ireland was transformed last weekend when doctors voted in favour of a merger between rival... Read more

Bum note helps to bond

Dr Paul Stewart | 20 February 2009 | Guests

I had taken five minutes for a cup of tea and a few pages of a novel, The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova (about that early, if misguided, pioneer of inoculation, Dracula). Then I dragged myself away from it and returned... Read more

Ireland needs a literacy champion

Terence Cosgrave | 20 February 2009 | Guests

Terence Cosgrave talks to Dr Rima Rudd — one of the world's leading experts on health literacy — and discovers that Ireland has a long way to go in improving literacy and communication. How many doctors would be prepared to... Read more

Novel case on right to sue in respect of damage to sperm

Ed Madden BL | 20 February 2009 |

Ed Madden, BL on a case in which a number of men sought to recover damages in respect of alleged damage to their sperm, which was stored at a hospital's fertility unit. In 2003, six men were diagnosed with cancer,... Read more

Bum note helps to bond

Dr Paul Stewart | 19 February 2009 | Guests

Dr Paul Stewart tells how an embarrassing — and somewhat painful — incident at work helped to improve his relationship with his teenage son. Ihad taken five minutes for a cup of tea and a few pages of a novel,... Read more

New banking revelations highlight need for reform

Dr Mick Molloy | 19 February 2009 | Mick Molloy

Dr Mick Molloy writes that our broken economy obviously needs fixing ... but, in the aftermath of all the recent financial scandals, where can we go from here? As financial revelations pile up, one might wonder what any of the... Read more

Legal issues concerning teenagers and consent

Elaine Healy | 18 February 2009 | Guests

Elaine Healy of Beauchamps Solicitors gives us an overview of the law in Ireland regarding teenagers and when they can consent to, or refuse, medical treatment In England recently, a Care Trust withdrew its application to force a 13-year-old girl... Read more

New joint faculty launched

Gary Culliton | 18 February 2009 | Guests

Gary Culliton reports on the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, which will deal with training and accreditation. The Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine was launch-ed on December 16. The Faculty includes four bodies, namely the College of Anaesthetists... Read more

Abstinence makes the hair grow stronger

Dr Garrett FitzGerald | 18 February 2009 | Garrett FitzGerald

Dr Garrett FitzGerald writes that those of you who have lost your hair may be unnerved by some recent findings from the University of Nottingham. An old acquaintance from my school days, who went bald when he was young and... Read more

The specialty of generality

Dr Mark Hannon | 18 February 2009 | Mark Hannon

Dr Mark Hannon says that medical training schemes will have to change if patients in Ireland are ever to get the healthcare service that they expect and that they deserve. As so often happens, the mainstream press (in this case,... Read more

A state of fugue

G.B. | 18 February 2009 | The Inside Back

Nobody likes the guy who has just come home after an extended stay abroad. All he wants to talk about is how everything is better over there – wherever there is. So I shall try to stay away from comparisons... Read more

No laws means IVF is still in limbo

Dr Simon Mills | 18 February 2009 | Guests

Dr Simon Mills writes that the lack of unregulated assisted human reproduction in Ireland means that there are many unresolved ethical issues concerning embryos It has been a while (five and a half years, to be precise) since I last... Read more

The doctor responsible for mass executions

Dr Robert O'Sullivan | 16 February 2009 | Guests

Dr Robert O'Sullivan on the Swiss-born doctor Jean-Paul Marat who went from being the king's doctor to the most ruthless proponent of the guillotine. His assassin said she 'had killed one man to save a hundred thousand' — an unusual... Read more

Do you have the feelgood factor?

Rory Hafford | 16 February 2009 | Guests

Rory Hafford continues his medical communications series with a look at the thorny subject of empathy in medicine and how and why to achieve it. The eagle-eyed reader of all things medical will be familiar with a story carried recently... Read more

Rainy day in Schloss Belvedere

G.B. | 15 February 2009 | The Inside Back

Vienna, Day 30: The end of good weather, and an intensifying interest in Bach. I set out early in a kind of grey rain-snow with my headphones. I left my cousin W sitting in his kitchen drinking tea. He has... Read more

Pooling expertise to improve standards

Gary Culliton | 14 February 2009 | Guests

Gary Culliton speaks to Prof Bill Powderly about the work being carried out in Dublin Academic Health Care, Ireland's first academic medical centre. UCD School of Medicine has joined with the Mater and St Vincent’s hospitals to form Ireland’s first... Read more

Eleventh hour on the 48-hour week

Dara Gantly | 13 February 2009 | Guests

Dara Gantly looks at how Ireland has found itself totally un-prepared to meet the looming deadline of the 48-hour working week for NCHDs. When the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was amended to include doctors in training, the August 2009... Read more

Medical Miscellany

Terence Cosgrave | 13 February 2009 | Guests

A wonderful book has made its way from Sligo to the Medical Miscellany clearing desk and one that should prove invaluable to me as I struggle to find health-related humour in 2009 (see panel). Laughter: a wonderful tranquilliser –... Read more

A helping hand with prosthetic advances

Mary Anne Kenny | 12 February 2009 | Guests

He may not quite be the ‘Six Million Dollar Man’, but 19-year-old Evan Reynolds is the owner of the world’s most advanced bionic hand. The sports biology student at University of the West of England (UWE), in Bristol, is one... Read more

Are we detectives or doctors? Sherlock or Dr Watson?

Dr Paul Heslin | 12 February 2009 | Guests

Dr Paul Heslin on the clues that patients can give doctors to help them solve the mysteries of their illness. It's all 'alimentary', Dr Watson. It is important how patients see us as doctors. These images affect their relationships with... Read more

Will NCHDs have to pay a bigger price?

Terence Cosgrave | 12 February 2009 | Editorial

Terence Cosgrave says that even though the choice may be between cutting payroll costs and closing hospitals, NCHDs — while willing to do their part — are bearing the brunt of cutbacks so far in the hospital sector. It has... Read more

Tackling cancer through theatre

Niamh Mullen | 11 February 2009 | Guests

Niamh Mullen writes about a new play, which is touring the country, that highlights the importance of talking to patients about their cancer pain. Doctors and other healthcare professionals must continually ask cancer patients about the levels of pain they... Read more

House of Lords rules on right to life

Ed Madden | 11 February 2009 | Guests

Ed Madden, BL, looks at a recent House of Lords case in England in which the Court examined the right to life of a psychiatric patient under the European Convention on Human Rights and the obligations of hospital staff. On... Read more

Mental health funding still in freefall in 2009

Dr Dermot Walsh | 11 February 2009 | Guests

Dr Dermot Walsh, Inspector of Mental Hospitals 1987-2003, writes that the HSE's Service Plan for 2009 will follow past form when it comes to neglecting the needs of psychiatric patients. The HSE Service Plan for 2009 has surfaced. Given that... Read more

Televideo interviewing is fairer method

Dr Amin A. Muhammad | 11 February 2009 |

Dear Editor, For selection of consultants, a recruitment procedure is generally followed in countries like Canada, Ireland and the UK. Applicants are short-listed and selected candidates are called in for interview. Inviting a number of candidates from far-off places and... Read more

Pensions levy: do what I say, not what I do

Dr Mick Molloy | 11 February 2009 | Mick Molloy

Dr Mick Molloy writes that the pension levy is inequitable and unfair — with one example being that it will not apply to the Ministerial pensions of TDs. A new President in the White House. Finally, a new dawn for... Read more

€75 levy is 'a disgrace'

Margaret Mullett | 10 February 2009 | Letters

Dear Editor, I am writing as chairperson of the Irish Haemovigilance Association (IHA) on behalf of the board and the 1,200 members of the Association. The IHA is very shocked to learn that the Blood mobile from the Irish Blood... Read more

The legal issues that are associated with needlestick injuries

Ciara Dalton | 10 February 2009 | Guests

Ciara Dalton of Beauchamps Solicitors looks at the risk of needlestick injury, and the legal consequences of such injuries. A significant number of claims arise from needlestick injuries. While the most likely victim of a needlestick injury is a nurse... Read more

Help for First Nations patients

Nycomed | 10 February 2009 | Guests

A support programme established by the Vancouver Coastal Area health authorities aims to guide aboriginal patients through the healthcare system. A new programme designed to help First Nations (or aboriginal) patients to access and navigate their way through the healthcare... Read more

Long walk home: medical practice in rural Uganda

Dr Mark McClean | 09 February 2009 | Guests

Dr Mark McClean initially went to Africa as a medical student in 2004 and worked in Kenya. After he graduated in 2005, he trained in the Mater. Here he writes about his experiences working in Uganda last year. Uganda is... Read more

College of Psychiatry for Ireland

Dr Dermot Walsh | 09 February 2009 | Guests

Dr Dermot Walsh examines the establishment of the College of Psychiatry of Ireland, in the final article of our series on the history of Irish psychiatry. The response (to a circular requesting the views of Irish psychitrists on the establishment... Read more

Changes in heart attack treatment

Dara Gantly | 09 February 2009 | Guests

With plans for primary angioplasty to become the first line of treatment for heart attack patients across Europe, Dara Gantly examines where Ireland stands in terms of adopting the change. Cardiac care in Europe is undergoing something of a revolution.... Read more

Please tell Bono not to say ‘Palestinian’ so loudly

G.B. | 09 February 2009 | The Inside Back

I caught some coverage of the big concert for Obama that was held the day before his inauguration. It was about 1am in Vienna when I returned home from another night of drinking on my own. My cousin, Walter, with... Read more

Some perks of the job

Dr John Ryan | 09 February 2009 | Letter from America

Dr John Ryan writes that hearing patient details from your team can sometimes result in crossed wires, but it can also mean that you hear the highlights, without all the groundwork. I have just finished another month as the attending... Read more

The current thinking on high-voltage sport

Dr Garrett FitzGerald | 09 February 2009 | Garrett FitzGerald

Dr Garrett FitzGerald writes that if today’s athletes want to become tomorrow’s sporting legends, then they should get their thinking caps on and get some ESB therapy. I have found the secret at last. There can be little doubt about... Read more

Why should our doctors answer Ireland's call?

Dr Mick Molloy | 09 February 2009 | Mick Molloy

Dr Mick Molloy writes that Ireland has a long history of sending its medical graduates abroad, and doesn't blame doctors in the current climate for not wanting to return Medical migration has been on the agenda for longer than any... Read more

Wasting a good crisis

Terence Cosgrave | 09 February 2009 | Editorial

Terence Cosgrave writes that no-one will be immune to serious and deep cuts from the economic crisis. Last November, President Obama’s Chief of Staff designate, Rahm Emanuel, told a CEO Forum in Washington that ‘it would be a shame to... Read more

Information sought

Laura Kelly | 09 February 2009 | Letters

Dear Editor, I am a second-year history of medicine PhD student at the National University of Ireland, Galway, studying early women medical students and doctors in Ireland in the period 1877-1922. My PhD thesis examines attitudes towards women in medicine... Read more

GPs need to make a stand to get the best vaccine deals

D Michael O'Brien | 09 February 2009 | Letters

Dear Editor, Congratulations to the tropical medical bureau for getting front page news recently on the Irish Times health supplement announcing that it was offering the cervical cancer vaccine, all in, for €390. According to its website it is charging... Read more

Quest for results as patients have to wait

Dr Mary Slevin | 09 February 2009 | Letters

Dear Editor, Our Cervical Smear Campaign is now in full swing since September 2008. We, the GPs, are getting results within the four weeks as promised. However, the patients are not getting their results. Patients who had their smears done... Read more

Equality Officer ruled against porters' work equality claim

06 February 2009 | Guests

Ed Madden, BL, looks at an Equality Tribunal case in which SIPTU claimed 13 male portering/attendant staff at Cavan Regional General Hospital were entitled to equal pay with a female telephonist/receptionist who also worked at the hospital. In September... Read more

Croatia Tours launch 2009 brochure

06 February 2009 | Guests

If you're looking for an elegant and up-market destination for your summer holiday this year, escape to Croatia for sun, fun and culture. The concept of specialisation is well understood by doctors. Sometimes, to get the best results, it is... Read more

Nurse injured her back while using mobile hoist

Ed Madden | 04 February 2009 | Guests

Ed Madden, BL, looks at a recent English Court of Appeal case, in which a nurse appealed against a decision that she was not entitled to damages for a back injury suffered as a result of using a mobile hoist... Read more

Vision for Change... but has anything been done?

June Shannon | 04 February 2009 | Guests

June Shannon writes that three years after the publication of A Vision for Change, little progress has been made with regard to its implementation. The publication of A Vision for Change on January 24, 2006 heralded a new dawn for... Read more

BZDs as risky as alcohol when driving

Gary Culliton | 03 February 2009 | Guests

Gary Culliton writes that driving a vehicle while on benzodiazepines can be as risky as driving under the influence of alcohol, according to one expert. The increased risks arising from driving when on benzodiazepines (BZDs) is at least the same... Read more

Virtual theatre improves skills

Helix Health | 02 February 2009 | Guests

Medical students at the University of Washington use a full-scale fake operating room to help trainee surgeons to test their skills in the virtual world, before ever getting near a patient. Medical students at the University of Washington (UW) who... Read more

A College for Irish Psychiatrists

Dr Dermot Walsh | 02 February 2009 | Guests

In the second part of a three-part series, Dr Dermot Walsh continues his examination of the history of psychiatry in Ireland. The annual meeting of the (Medico-psychological) Association was held in Cork at the Queen’s College, later in 1901, under... Read more

The truth about CV preparation

Rory Hafford | 02 February 2009 | Guests

Rory Hafford has a look at the best way to prepare for your SpR interviews in his communication series. When it comes to preparing a medical CV, there are key things that you need to make sure are covered. The... Read more