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07/12/2012
Surgeon Found Guilty Of Poor Professional Performance
A surgeon has been found guilty of poor professional performance following the death a woman just days after a routine bladder procedure.
The woman’s family has welcomed the ruling.
Thomas (Ted) McDermott, a consultant urologist, was found guilty on nine counts of poor professional performance in relation to the death of Mary Walsh of Firhouse in Dublin.
Ms Walsh, 56, died on December 8, 2008, at Tallaght hospital, three days after Mr McDermott carried out a cystoscopy, a procedure in which a scope is used to examine the bladder, on her at Mount Carmel private hospital in Dublin.
Ms Walsh sustained a cut to her bladder – known as an intraperitoneal perforation – which caused urine to leak internally in to her abdomen, leading to fatal septic shock.
Mr McDermott was found guilty of poor professional performance for failing to arrange for timely surgical intervention to relieve the perforation and for failing to transfer his patient to Tallaght Hospital within a reasonable timeframe.
Among the other seven grounds on which Mr McDermott was found guilty were that he failed to apply the standards of care and clinical judgment that could reasonably be expected from a consultant urologist, that he failed to arrange for appropriate investigations before Ms Walsh's procedure to determine whether she was suffering from a urinary tract infection, and that he failed to respond to indicators of Ms Walsh's deteriorating condition.
Ms Walsh's family yesterday expressed their relief that the full circumstances of the case emerged following the ruling by the fitness to practise committee of the Medical Council.
"It's taken four years for the truth to come out about what happened to Mary," said her sister Carmel Walsh.
"Today Ted McDermott was found guilty of all nine charges of poor professional performance but that won't bring our sister back."
The Medical Council will now decide what sanction to impose on Mr McDermott.
(H)
The woman’s family has welcomed the ruling.
Thomas (Ted) McDermott, a consultant urologist, was found guilty on nine counts of poor professional performance in relation to the death of Mary Walsh of Firhouse in Dublin.
Ms Walsh, 56, died on December 8, 2008, at Tallaght hospital, three days after Mr McDermott carried out a cystoscopy, a procedure in which a scope is used to examine the bladder, on her at Mount Carmel private hospital in Dublin.
Ms Walsh sustained a cut to her bladder – known as an intraperitoneal perforation – which caused urine to leak internally in to her abdomen, leading to fatal septic shock.
Mr McDermott was found guilty of poor professional performance for failing to arrange for timely surgical intervention to relieve the perforation and for failing to transfer his patient to Tallaght Hospital within a reasonable timeframe.
Among the other seven grounds on which Mr McDermott was found guilty were that he failed to apply the standards of care and clinical judgment that could reasonably be expected from a consultant urologist, that he failed to arrange for appropriate investigations before Ms Walsh's procedure to determine whether she was suffering from a urinary tract infection, and that he failed to respond to indicators of Ms Walsh's deteriorating condition.
Ms Walsh's family yesterday expressed their relief that the full circumstances of the case emerged following the ruling by the fitness to practise committee of the Medical Council.
"It's taken four years for the truth to come out about what happened to Mary," said her sister Carmel Walsh.
"Today Ted McDermott was found guilty of all nine charges of poor professional performance but that won't bring our sister back."
The Medical Council will now decide what sanction to impose on Mr McDermott.
(H)
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