A dispute in which a senior medical consultant has been suspended from duty at a Co Louth hospital was raised at a special sitting of the High Court yesterday.
Mr Colman Muldoon, consultant physician at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, is seeking in the High Court to overturn a decision of the North Eastern Health Board which had placed him on administrative leave with full pay until the dispute is resolved.
Mr Eugene Gleeson, for Mr Muldoon, told Mr Justice Aindrias O Caoimh yesterday that the board had agreed not to alter the status quo pending determination of an interlocutory injunction on January 6th. He said the six-year dispute centred on a clash of interests on the length of hospital stay for Mr Muldoon's patients and the tightening of purse strings by the board.
His client had learned of a move to employ another consultant physician. Mr Gleeson earlier told the court that Mr Muldoon had been told he was no longer welcome at the hospital, where he had worked for 29 years, and now faced irreparable damage to his professional reputation.
Mr Muldoon had told Judge O Caoimh he had learned that the board intended implementing new measures on January 1st, which would reduce considerably his involvement with patients.
It planned to appoint a temporary independent consultant physician to start work this week and Mr Muldoon would no longer be permitted to make elective admissions of public and private patients which, he claimed, was a breach of his contract.
Mr Gleeson said the board had agreed not to make any changes until the interlocutory application was heard by Mr Justice Finnegan on January 6th. Mr Justice O Caoimh had earlier granted Dore & Co, solicitors for Mr Muldoon, leave to serve short notice of motion on the board of Mr Muldoon's intention to seek a court order directing them to lift the suspension and grant other restraining reliefs.