A CONSULTANT facing allegations of professional misconduct following the death of a young woman from abdominal cancer has said he was “absolutely horrified” when he realised a biopsy he had requested for her had not been carried out.
Consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Etop Samson Akpan of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda faced 10 allegations of professional misconduct at a Medical Council fitness-to-practise inquiry yesterday arising from the death of 31-year-old Sharon McEneaney.
Ms McEneaney, from Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, had a cancerous tumour in her abdomen and died in April 2009 after delays in her treatment. She first attended Our Lady of Lourdes in October 2007, but was not treated for cancer until July 2008 and had a biopsy only after the intervention of former TD Dr Rory O’Hanlon in late June 2008.
Giving evidence, Dr Akpan, who qualified in Nigeria in 1985 and trained in hospitals including the Coombe and Rotunda, said he wanted to express his sincere sympathies to Ms McEneaney’s family. He acknowledged the management of Ms McEneaney’s case “could have been better”.
He told the inquiry that at the time Ms McEneaney was a patient he had an enormous workload and was “working like a robot”. He had written to the Health Service Executive, along with other consultants at the hospital, weeks before her appointment, warning the shortage of administrative support at the hospital meant the service was “unsafe and unsustainable”. He had also threatened to suspend one of his clinics if support services did not improve.
He carried out a laparoscopy on Ms McEneaney and when he found a “grey mass” called in someone from the surgical team who recommended she be referred for a computerised tomography (CT) scan followed by an ultrasound-guided biopsy. He referred her for the CT scan and she was given a follow-up appointment on February 13th.
Dr Akpan said he had worked the night before February 13th, then taken an antenatal clinic in Dundalk before driving back to Drogheda. He had taken a call from his wife related to childcare issues for their son, who has special needs.
Dr Akpan said he felt “absolutely horrified” when he realised the biopsy had not been carried out. He asked another registrar to arrange for the biopsy, and it was carried out on July 15th.
Three other doctors took the stand yesterday to give character references for Dr Akpan, including his former boss at the Coombe, Prof Seán Daly; Dr Noreen Gleeson of St James’s hospital; and Prof Walter Prenderville of the Coombe, who described Dr Akpan as “quite inspirational”.
The hearing continues today.
