Rabbitte says MS patient waiting two years for operation

A claim was made in the Dáil that nothing had been done for a woman suffering multiple sclerosis, on morphine for nine months and waiting two years for the implantation of a device to manage and reduce pain.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said he had contacted the Minister for Health, the hospital, the consultant, the Minister's office and the Health Service Executive about Breda O'Gorman's wait for a Baclofen pump, a small device implanted in the abdomen to release pain medication at timed intervals. They "knew the detail inside out" but "nothing has happened", he said.

Her husband, Tony, had travel- led from Ballybunion, Co Kerry, to Mr Rabbitte's clinic to outline her deteriorating condition, constant pain and discomfort.

In a subsequent letter to Mr Rabbitte he said that "we have tried everything at this stage and in our opinion we have nothing to lose if this goes public". The family had offered to pay for the pump, but the procedure had still not been carried out.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil that he had no knowledge of the case "but if I can add my weight to try to do something for them I will do so". Mr Ahern said he did not know why the pump could not be provided, or what the clinical assessment was.

"Neither do I know why it had not happened after the Tánaiste's office was informed. Like all these matters when one checks them there is some reason behind it. Deputy Rabbitte has given an undertaking to examine the matter on behalf of a decent family," he said and added, "I will show due respect to that family by checking on the matter."

The Labour leader said that when the Opposition raised health services in a general way "people have grown accustomed to it, but behind every ventilation of grievances about the health services, a family is affected".

He read out a letter from Mr O'Gorman in which he said his wife was "disimproving by the day and at this stage, even to put her into bed or take her out, she is in cruel agony and ends up in tears morning and night. She has the district nurse and an assistant to take her up in the morning and to do normal procedures like washing her and dressing her pressure sores, which are not improving only getting worse."

The letter continued, "as the infection in the sore is not decreasing it could very easily turn to gangrene which could be the cause of Breda losing a leg if action is not taken in time. Every morning she is removed from the bed to the wheelchair and has to be moved from chair to chair several times a day in order to get relief from the pain and the spasms. This is an awful discomfort to her on a daily basis."

She was on 30 tablets daily, a drip was injected into her 24 hours a day to relieve spasm but she was so used to them that they were no longer effective. Her upper body was stiffening due to lack of physiotherapy, but this could not start "until she has the pump implanted".

Mr O'Gorman had asked the Labour leader on May 24th to raise the matter in the Dáil, but he had not done so "because I felt that private discussions with the hospital, the consultant and the Minister might be more successful". He said nobody in a civilised society should be expected to live in the circumstances in which Ms Gorman was condemned to live.