Cover up, denial, secrecy, bureaucracy, non accountability, endangering life, corporate arrogance, corporate ruthlessness, political weakness, political cowardice
The above descriptions are just some of the obstacles that face Irish citizens on a daily basis when dealing with arrogant and self-serving bureaucracy in this corrupt state.
Rebecca O’Malley’s case is typical. She was told that a lump on her breast was benign but it turned out to be malignant. The error cost her 14 months in wasted time. She had to have a mastectomy which probably would not have been necessary if that time had not been wasted.
We are now told that the misdiagnosis was the result of “an interpretative human error”. Nobody will be held to account for this misdiagnosis. Neither will anybody be held to account for Mrs. O’Malley’s mental and physical suffering.
Concerned about the possibility that other women could be in danger, Mrs. O’Malley requested that the HSE carry out a review of recent cases. The first reaction of the HSE was to ignore her request and ‘encourage’ her to keep quiet.
This is a crucial point that we have to stop and think about. Somebody in the HSE decided that no action should be taken. Somebody decided that there was something of a higher importance than the health and possibly the lives of approximately 300 women.
Somebody decided that it was better to risk the health of these women rather than admit that an error had been made. That person/s should be named and shamed; he/she/they should be hounded from office and never again allowed to hold a position of responsibility. Because Ireland is a corrupt state, this will not happen.
Already, the usual strategies are being activated to protect the various interests. The first internal investigation is a whitewash, nobody has been held accountable.
Harney has now ordered another internal investigation which should get her over the election. This ‘investigation’ will also be a whitewash. We will get the usual waffle – ‘systems error’, ‘must never allow this to happen again’, ‘new procedures’, blah blah.
The person/s who decided to keep the original scandal a secret will still be there, in the system, protected by the system.
And WHEN FF get back into power, the Freedom of Information with be again, pushed back from 10 to 20 years and that medical issues will be protected from public scrutiny.
I am the husband of Rebecca O’Malley and the experience that Rebecca and I have shared over recent times leads me to feel that Anthony has it pretty well right. We shall continue to press for a truly independent enquiry as we are quite certain that there is a cover-up here in respect of the problems at Cork University Hospital laboratory.
I don’t feel that the general situation is likely to improve whilst the Irish public have this institutionalised fear of challenging any form of authority in a public way. There is also a lack of true investigative reporting in our press. We have dealt with some good journalists over recent days but the majority restrict themselves to publishing quotes and comments rather than by asking detailed, searching and penetrating questions of those in positions of administrative or political power.
My wife is certainly brave and we are both pretty articulate. We are not afraid to speak the truth but that sets us apart from most of fellow citizens and the main reason being that we have only lived in Ireland for 9 years and so did not grow up in the type of environment that has shaped a population to resemble those 3 famous monkeys…hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil!
If anyone has any information about errors in Cork uUniversity Hospital or Limerick Regional Hospital then please pass it on. Thank You.
Tony & Rebecca all the best to you.
Anthony … excellent piece. One can only hope you lit the match under those
in authority [i.e. Harney} to do something about this.