A spokesman for the Mid-Western Health Board yesterday apologised to a Limerick woman whose operation for breast cancer was stated to have been cancelled 15 minutes before she was due to go to the operating theatre in the Limerick Regional Hospital.
Ms Peggy Kirwan, from Garryowen, expressed her "fury and utter disgust". She said she was told at 11.45 a.m. on Friday her mastectomy, due to take place at noon, was cancelled because an anaesthetist was not available.
"I was left alone and in tears without even being offered a drive home or being told if a new date had been set for the operation. It took myself and my family weeks to psychologically prepare for what was to have been the most serious operation of my life."
She said she was called by the hospital last Tuesday and told to be fasting from 9 a.m. "I am shaking with anger at how I was treated."
A spokesman for the hospital said that both the hospital and the health board "apologised profusely". He said the operation was cancelled because an anaesthetist became unavailable at short notice. He said the hospital also offered to reschedule the operation for Thursday.