A consultant radiologist suffered three nervous breakdowns and physical and psychological injuries because of his huge workload and insufficient back-up resources, the High Court has heard. At one stage, Dr Joseph Hogan was so deeply depressed that he bought a rope to commit suicide, his lawyer said.
Dr Hogan (53), of Sandhill Lodge, Lahinch, Co Clare, who has been attached to Ennis General Hospital since September 1985, is suing the Mid-Western Health Board (MWHB) for damages for alleged negligence and breach of contract. The defence denies the claims.
Between June 2001 and October 2001 Dr Hogan was on sick leave with full pay. Afterwards, until March last, he was on sick leave with half-pay. Since then, he has been unpaid, the court was told.
Ms Mary Irvine SC, for Dr Hogan, said it appeared unlikely that Dr Hogan would work again as a consultant radiologist, but the evidence would be that he must not return to the environment that had precipitated his injuries.
Dr Hogan graduated from UCG in 1972 and served in hospitals in Ireland and Britain before entering into a contract with the MWHB from September 1st, 1985, counsel said. In his work at the Ennis hospital, he acted as a single-handed consultant with no cover whatsoever. There was back-up at hospitals in Limerick and elsewhere.
Under the contract, he was to get 31 days' leave a year, and a locum or other consultant was due to come in to provide cover. But, because he was a single-handed consultant, he was effectively working on his own and on call to the hospital seven days a week, 24 hours a day, except for rest days. He was on call for any emergency which might arise during the night. Because there was no cover for his rest days, he was unable to take them because of the build-up of work.
Many people had been discharged from hospital because of the delay in getting around to reading the results of examinations as a consequence of the backlog. A man with active TB and a person with a skull fracture had been discharged.
At one stage, Dr Hogan was feeling so isolated and was so bad in his depression that he bought a rope to commit suicide. The hospital and health board knew he was sick and stressed. He had sued the health board to claim his rest days. He was offered payment in lieu of rest days and in March 1991 got about £9,000. What he had wanted was the rest days.
By April 1998, there was a build-up of 530 rest days due.
Under the "Fosterhill" system which is used to measure the workload of a consultant radiologist, Dr Hogan was doing the work of three consultants, counsel said. In August 1996 he suffered a second breakdown and the following month he issued proceedings.
In 1997 he was due 500 rest days but was refused payment for them.
He was told that he would be given an allowance of 202 days by being allowed to retire a year earlier than he would have been due, in 2013 rather than 2014.
In November 1997 Dr Hogan developed physical symptoms and had abdominal pains which were stress-related. He went back to work, but his health deteriorated in 1998. He was unwell in 1999, and in June 2001 "the wheels came off" and he had a complete breakdown.
In his statement of claim, Dr Hogan submits that on his appointment it was represented to him at Ennis General Hospital that eight radiological sessions would be taken by him, five by another doctor and two by a third. In fact, he claimed, the second doctor provided only three sessions. The sessions allocated to the third doctor were completely discharged, but that doctor retired in 1987.
Notwithstanding those doctors' sessions, the volume of work at Ennis did not diminish and, as head of department, the consequently increased burden fell on Dr Hogan. From June 1987 until March 1997 his workload increased by approximately 18 hours per week, and there was a failure to provide him with adequate support or replacement radiologists in the event of his taking holidays or leave days. The hearingis expected to last three weeks.