Patient's death left doctor with 'tremendous burden' to carry

A DOCTOR whose patient died three years after undergoing a procedure in Galway in 2005 said the death left her with a “tremendous burden” to carry.

Consultant gynaecologist Dr Andrea Hermann told a fitness to practise hearing at the Medical Council in Dublin that she recognised the “shortfalls” in her treatment of Saundra O’Connor (39) and acknowledged it was a tremendous tragedy for the family. “Equally so, this case has never left me either,” she said.

Dr Hermann performed a laparoscopy and removed an ovarian cyst from Ms O’Connor at the Galway Clinic, Doughiska, Galway, in late January 2005 after the woman complained of pain and a dragging sensation.

A laparoscopy is a commonly performed procedure to examine the abdominal or pelvic organs.

After the operation, Ms O’Connor developed peritonitis, an infection which caused septic shock, multiorgan failure, cardiac arrest and severe brain damage. She died three years later in University College Hospital in Galway.

The hearing is also examining six other complaints made against Dr Hermann involving patients who were under her care at the Galway Clinic between 2005 and 2008.

Yesterday the council heard experts had given evidence that Ms O’Connor should have been sent away for six weeks to see if her cyst would disappear without treatment. But Dr Hermann said she could not have sent the woman away for six weeks with no treatment for her complaint. “I had nothing to offer her,” she said.

She acknowledged she failed to administer antibiotics at the proper time or to identify the possibility that Ms O’Connor had peritonitis when she complained of pain and had a temperature two days after the operation.