In the half century from 1947, deaths from tuberculosis in the Republic - mainly among young people - fell from thousands annually to 10 (1997). The main reason for this transformation was the advent of effective chemotherapy, but there were significant contributions from some members of the medical profession. The best known to the general public were Noel Browne and Dorothy Price; the most able was Dr Joseph Logan of Peamount, who died recently. His brother, the author Dr Patrick Logan, was possibly a name better known to the general public.
Joseph Logan, 84 when he died, was born in Leitrim and was educated at St Mary's, Dundalk. He qualified from UCD in 1939. Like the majority of his class he went to England. He decided to specialise in the treatment of tuberculosis. He advanced to become chief assistant to Dr Edwards in the Cheshire Joint Sanatorium, Market Drayton, then a leading British institution. He took the MD degree in 1946, having previously acquired a DPH with BSc.
In 1948 he was appointed medical superintendent (medical director) of Peamount Hospital to the pleasure of the newly appointed Minister of Health, Noel Browne, who knew of his growing reputation.
Dr Logan devoted the next 30 years to Peamount. Hundreds of patients were treated annually. He set high standards and achieved them with flinty determination. He was a leader inspiring the sort of loyalty given to the chieftain of a highland clan and indeed his fieriness may have originated from such an ancestor.
Dr Logan was fortunate to work in a voluntary institution with a tradition for innovation. The Peamount Board gave him unswerving support and he had excellent colleagues in his chief assistants, Dr Jack Sherry and Dr Ernie Collins. Mark Clinton, Peamount farm manager, who went on to an outstandingly successful political career, was a firm friend and supporter. There was also a loyal and adaptable nursing staff, many of them ex-patients.
Dr Logan was expert in the use of collapse therapy and surgery was also expanded in the early years. The increasing effectiveness of chemotherapy made such measures obsolete. Joe was in the vanguard in charting the intricacies of new drugs and the regimens for their use - if the drugs are not correctly used they lose their efficacy and the organisms become resistant.
He wrote on advances and promoted annual symposia at Peamount to acquaint his colleagues of new methods. Many patients were sent to Peamount with other lung conditions and he became expert in a wide range of pulmonary diseases.
In 1962 the board of the hospital agreed to admit a number of adults with mental handicap to meet an urgent need. Joe was immediately at home with his new guests. His spirits seemed to lift in their company and he did all he could to assist in developing services for them.
The excellence of Dr Logan's clinical skills were soon apparent. The protocols for therapy were clear and precise, the clinical supervision strict and the clinical notes models of clarity. What made him remarkable was his skill as a hospital manager. Discipline, never easy when young patients are a long time in hospital, was enforced without coercion. He accepted that money was scarce and the hospital was run with astonishing economy and a tiny medical staff. Yet the food was excellent and when money became available, it was thoughtfully spent to maximum advantage.
Dr Logan lived close to the hospital and was readily available, allowing himself little distraction other than fishing, some hunting in his early days, and later an occasional game of golf. He did not practice privately and he positively shied away from any professional or academic recognition.
His wife, Marguerite, died suddenly in 1953. He remarried, but he then seemed to bury himself totally in his work and bringing up his family.
Near the time for retirement he ensured that Peamount patients would move into capable hands and slipped off quietly to Lesotho. The Irish Government, in an enlightened move, had arranged to fund the tuberculosis service of this mountainy African kingdom, a country so poor that it was never taken over by a European power. Dr Logan was invited to head this service. He spent three years in Maseru. He set up a system for treatment that was simple but foolproof. The scheme is still in operation.
In his latter years he lived with his doctor daughter, Una, in Mayo. He is survived by his widow, Ita, four of his five children and several grandchildren, to whom he was devoted. We extend them our sympathy.
Joseph Logan had exceptional talent; he used it well.
H.E.C