Lourdes doctor found guilty
A CONSULTANT obstetrician and gynaecologist at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital has been found guilty on two counts, of poor professional performance by the Medical Council fitness to practise committee.
It was also found that Dr Etop Akpan failed to take adequate responsibility for Sharon Mceneaney and ensure she received appropriate, timely care.
The 31-year-old woman from Carrickmacross in Monaghan waited nine months for a cancer diagnosis after complaining of severe abdominal pain.
Ms Mceneaney died in April 2009 after being treated at Beaumont Hospital. During the inquiry, Dr Akpan was decribed as 'a careful, hard-working and reflective' doctor.
The inquiry was also told that 'doctors at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital were working in an environment that put patients at risk'.
Ms Mceneaney attended the emergency department of the Lourdes hospital three times between October and November 2007.
Initially she was suspected of having an ovarian cyst after hospital tests.
A diagnosis of neurofibromatosis was then made in December 2007.
Later, after an intervention by local GP and former TD Dr Rory O'hanlon in May 2008, she had a biopsy and a malignant tumour was diagnosed.
She was referred to Beaumont Hospital for treatment in July 2008 and died in April 2009.
