Senior counsel for the Irish Haemophilia Society was accused yesterday of making "cheap jibes" and "glib allegations" against a Cork-based hospital consultant.
Mr Aongus ╙ Brolchβin SC, for Dr Paule Cotter, consultant haematologist at Cork University Hospital, said he was "appalled" at the allegations made against his client in a closing submission by Mr Martin Hayden, for the society.
Mr ╙ Brolchβin said he was disappointed a senior colleague would make such a submission, and he said he could not underestimate the damage caused by the allegations contained within it. They had had "tragic and devastating consequences," he said.
Of Dr Cotter's failure to inform the BTSB of the infection of one of her patients with HIV in December 1985, he said the doctor accepted in hindsight she should have done so. However, he said, a number of factors should be borne in mind, including the fact there had been a product recall by telephone in late 1985 which she believed had dealt with the matter.
Dr Cotter also believed the patient's positive test result was being sent by the Virus Reference Laboratory to the BTSB and Department of Health.
Mr ╙ Brolchβin said it was clear Dr Cotter did not appreciate the uniqueness of the HIV test result. However, in the context of what the BTSB would have done with the information, he said, it would be "absurd" to suggest the situation would have been any different had Dr Cotter informed it.
Earlier, Mr Brian McGovern, for Dr Helena Daly, said his client went to "significant lengths" to have the safest product available for haemophilia treatment at St James's Hospital, Dublin. Dr Daly, who worked as a locum consultant in 1985 while Prof Ian Temperley was on sabbatical, "substantially" reduced the use of non-heat-treated BTSB product heat-treated material had arrived, he said.
He added that "no satisfactory explanation" had been given for the BTSB's decision to supply substantial amounts of untreated product to Dr Daly after she had asked for it to be heat-treated.
