Published by: The Irish Times Limited Edited by: Deirdre Veldon Design & Layout: Kevin O’Hare Colour reproduction: Irish Times Premedia Copyright © The Irish Times Limited 2011. All of the columns are reproduced by kind permission of the estate of Mr Maurice Neligan. ISBN 978-0-907011-36-1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Irish Times Limited, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographic rights organisation or as expressly permitted by law Contents Foreword .................................................................................................................................... 5 Beware of health police ............................................................................................................. 8 The next crisis on the menu ..................................................................................................... 10 Signing up for defensive medicine .......................................................................................... 12 Horror health stories ................................................................................................................ 14 Tomorrow there will be lots of jam ......................................................................................... 16 Nurses deserve fair pay ............................................................................................................ 18 Beware of pre-election time ..................................................................................................... 20 Stopping squander mania ......................................................................................................... 22 Layered in secrecy ................................................................................................................... 24 Left with little after plenty ....................................................................................................... 26 Constant stream of waffle ........................................................................................................ 28 On the road to nowhere, very slowly ....................................................................................... 30 There’s money to be made in this system ................................................................................ 32 Freedom of speech held dear by all ......................................................................................... 34 Co-located hospitals - a sound investment? ............................................................................. 36 Barack, I’m not exactly twinkletoes either .............................................................................. 38 Selecting our future doctors ..................................................................................................... 40 I was wrong about the children’s hospital site ......................................................................... 42 One health vision that must become a reality .......................................................................... 44 Having a good puck ................................................................................................................. 47 Go slow on the quick fix .......................................................................................................... 49 A year in writing ...................................................................................................................... 51 Nostalgia: not what it was ........................................................................................................ 53 Looking after elderly in all our interest ................................................................................... 55 A rocky oasis............................................................................................................................ 57 A very weighty issue ................................................................................................................ 59 Meet again in sunlit uplands .................................................................................................... 61 Putting up with danger ............................................................................................................. 64 A marriage that’s minted in heaven ......................................................................................... 66 Going cold turkey at the racetrack ........................................................................................... 68 The Kingdom, the power and glory of Sam ............................................................................. 70 A true tale about men and stupidity ......................................................................................... 72 This winter, it seems it never rains but it pours ....................................................................... 74 Volcanic dust settles our life on the ocean wave ..................................................................... 76 A beautiful day to keep the brambles at bay ............................................................................ 78 A ramble along the warm valley of recollection ...................................................................... 80 Journey round my youth .......................................................................................................... 83 A bygone era of innocence ...................................................................................................... 85 Survival of the meanest ............................................................................................................ 87 Dealing with dying ................................................................................................................... 89 A little bit of theatre ................................................................................................................. 91 A little hospital humour ........................................................................................................... 93 A life of non-stop learning ....................................................................................................... 95 End is nigh ............................................................................................................................... 97 Passing out parade.................................................................................................................... 99 The first casualty .................................................................................................................... 101 The other side of the divide ................................................................................................... 103 Gripped from the outset ......................................................................................................... 105 Lessons learnt the hard way ................................................................................................... 107 Length does matter ................................................................................................................. 109 Finding the right direction ..................................................................................................... 111 Dying is not that easy ............................................................................................................. 113 Trouble buzzed around .......................................................................................................... 115 Restoring common sense ....................................................................................................... 117 Missing out on compliments of the season ............................................................................ 119 Remembering loved ones at Christmas time ......................................................................... 121 Turning back the clock to meet a patient ............................................................................... 123 The stark choices that can mean life or death ........................................................................ 125 Foreword Maurice Neligan was already a household name in Ireland by the time he started to write a weekly column for The Irish Times Health Supplement in early 2004. He had enjoyed a distinguished career as a pioneering heart surgeon, who carried out more than 15,000 operations over five decades. In 1975, he performed the first coronary bypass graft at Dublin’s Mater hospital, and in 1985 led the team that carried out the Republic’s first heart transplant operation. He also pioneered the development of open heart surgery in children. Born in 1937, Maurice grew up in Booterstown, Co Dublin and never strayed far. He attended Blackrock College and went on to study medicine at University College Dublin. After his graduation in 1962, he went to work at the Mater hospital and he became a core member of the team at the national cardiac surgical centre in the hospital in 1971. His retirement in 2002 left him with time and enthusiasm, which he initially tried to deploy around his home, to the consternation of his family, as he later wrote. Thus, he was dispatched to accept the offer to write a column for The Irish Times. And so, with some reluctance, he taught himself how to use a computer and became