DOCTOR ADDRESSES MEDICAL COUNCIL OVER DEATH OF CLAREGALWAY WOMAN

Date Published: 27-Jan-2010

A doctor whose patient died 3 years after undergoing a procedure in a Galway hospital in 2005 has addressed a Medical Council hearing in Dublin.

39 year old Saundra O'Connor from Claregalway died in 2008 - three years after a laparoscopy procedure at the Galway Clinic in Doughiska.

According to today's Irish Times, Consultant Gynaecologist Dr Andrea Hermann told a 'fitness to practice' hearing yesterday that the death left her with a "tremendous burden to carry."

In November the husband of Saundra O'Connor - a mother of two from Claregalway - told the Medical Council that his wife became very ill after the laparoscopy .

Her condition deteriorated overnight and Dr Hermann arranged for a second procedure.

Ms O'Connor didn't recover from the surgery and remained in a coma until she died in February 2008.

Yesterday, Dr Hermann told her fitness to practice hearing that she recognised her "shortcomings" in the Claregalway woman's treatment.