This article is from page 10 of the 2008-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE jury in the trial in the case of Paschal Carmody has been told that the State’s case against the former doctor “is that he is some sort of con- man trying to con people to part with their money on the promise of a cure for cancer”.
Outlining the State case’s against his chent, counsel, Pat Marrinan SC, defending, said that Mr Carmody de- nied all of this.
“Paschal Carmody’s position in this, he would never promise to any- one a cure for cancer.”
Earlier the court heard a Garda wit-
ness read interview statements made by Dr Carmody. He told Det Gda Philip Ryan that photodynamic ther- apy (PDT) “predates Jesus by 7,000 years. It was used in Egypt.”
Asked if he had misled patients by promising them a cure, Carmody said that to “mislead any human being shows no sense of integrity. I did not mislead any patient in my 28 years of uninterrupted practice.”
Seven of the charges relate to the late John Sheridan of Kells, County Kilkenny. Carmody denies obtaining €16,406 through falsely pretending that he would be cured of cancer.
Last week, Mr Sheridan’s brother
in law, Martin Smith said that at a meeting with Mr Carmody and his colleague, Dr Bill Porter at the East Clinic, Killaloe on October 16, 2001 Mr Carmody briefly touched him by the elbow as the two left a consulta- tion room and told him “We’ll cure John’s cancer”.
A nurse manager with the HSE, Mr Smith said that Dr Porter and Mr Car- mody “were speaking off the same hymn sheet on the PDT treatment. They believed in the treatment. They said that they would cure him (John Sheridan) and despite all my scepti- cism, they were doctors, you invest trust in doctors and I believed them
too.” Aged 58, Mr Sheridan died of his cancer in November 2002.
Under cross-examination from Mr Marrinan, Mr Smith accepted that he did not include Mr Carmody’s statement that he would cure John of his cancer in his statement to gardai.
Mr Marrinan asked, “Do you accept that the case against Paschal Carmo- dy is that he promised a cure?”
Mr Smith responded, “Yes, I’m aware of that.’ Mr Marrinan said, “I must suggest to you that you’re ta1- loring your evidence to fit in with the overall story and picture presented against Paschal Carmody.”
Mr Smith said, “John was facing
death and this was his last hope and he believed that the treatment would cure him.”
He said that he first met with Mr Carmody at a consultation at the East Clinic on September 7. An ap- pointment for ablation treatment was already scheduled for October and Mr Smith said that Mr Carmody rec- ommended that they go for the Abla- tion treatment.
Mr Smith confirmed that at that meeting, Mr Carmody didn’t rec- ommend PDT treatment as the ma- chine he had at that time wouldn’t penetrate deep enough for the deep seated cancer in his liver.