A CONSULTANT radiologist has been found not guilty of professional misconduct following the death of a 23-year-old man from brain damage who was treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
Consultant radiologist Dr John Hanson (40), from Malahide, Co Dublin, had all nine accusations of professional misconduct brought against him by the Irish Medical Council dismissed.
They included that he failed to diagnose business graduate Mark Haran properly after a scan, that he failed to communicate his report on the scan “adequately or at all” and he failed to furnish a written report within an adequate time.
Chairwoman of the fitness-to-practise committee, Mary Culliton, said the committee found the charges had not been proven. She expressed her sympathies to the dead man’s family.
Mr Haran, Moorechurch, Julianstown, Co Meath, died at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on April 4th, 2008, after being transferred there from Our Lady of Lourdes.
He had a brain scan carried out on March 27th and was discharged on foot of it. He was readmitted on the morning of April 2nd through the emergency department with dizziness, vomiting and a headache.
His scan was re-examined by Dr Hanson that afternoon and it was decided the case would be discussed at a conference the following morning. However, during the night, Mr Haran’s condition deteriorated.
A new scan was taken in the early hours of April 3rd and it showed he had severe brain swelling. He was then transferred to Beaumont.
Speaking afterwards, Barbara Haran, the dead man’s mother, was visibly upset. “It goes to show you, your son can die and it doesn’t matter,” she said.
In earlier evidence, the committee was told by expert witness Prof Stephen Lane, a consultant physician at Tallaght hospital in Dublin, that Mr Haran should have been given a scan as soon as he arrived in the emergency unit on April 2nd. It was a “medical emergency” and “there was no time to be dilly dallying”, he said.
He said he believed Dr Hanson’s handling was a “significant falling short” of standards, but he could not say if it was a “serious falling short”. Under cross-examination, he conceded a radiologist was “only as good as the clinical information given to him”.
He also said even if Mr Haran’s condition had been picked up on the scan, it may not have saved him. His condition was rapidly progressive, he said. The pressure on his brain could have been relieved, but it was impossible to say.
“My overall view is maybe none of this would have made any difference,” he said.
However, consultant neuroradiologist Dr Peter Flynn, from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, said he believed Mr Haran could have been saved after he was admitted for the second time. There was “ample time” to transfer him to Beaumont at 8pm that night, he said.
From the hospital notes, Dr Flynn also said he believed when Mr Haran was readmitted Dr Hanson was not given an impression of how sick he really was.
