This article is from page 28 of the 2008-07-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
THE photodynamic treatment given to six cancer patients was inappro- priate, according to the Prosecution.
Presenting the State’s case to the jury at the outset, Senior Counsel Denis Vaughan-Buckley said, “It’s the Prosecution’s case that there will be ample evidence that the accused is guilty of all counts.”
“It’s the State’s case that the patients were all suffering from terminal can- cer when they went to the East Clin- ic. They all subsequently died. The medical director of that clinic was the accused, Mr Carmody,” he told Ennis Circuit Court.
“The photodynamic treatment that was given to patients suffering from deep-rooted cancer was inappropri- ate,” he added.
He said that each of the 25 charges is “a separate trial in reality.”
Paschal Carmody (60), of Bally- cuggaran, Killaloe, County Clare, has pleaded not guilty to 25 charges of deception – relating to six cancer patients and their relatives – between September 2001 and October 2002.
It is alleged that he defrauded six cancer patients and their relatives of more than €80,000. According to the State, he falsely pretended the patients’ cancer would be cured by photodynamic therapy.
Mr Vaughan-Buckley gave an out- line of the details surrounding the cancer suffered by each of the six OTOL
He warned the jury, “this is a case where you couldn’t but be human and have sympathy for all the patients who died and all their next of kin
and relatives, likewise Mr Carmody, who is on trial on very serious charg- es. But you don’t decide the case on sympathy. You decide the case on the evidence before you.”
He said that seven of the charges re- late to Conor O’Sullivan from Gorey, who died just weeks short of his 16th birthday, on November 13, 2002.
He said that Conor’s parents, Derek and Christina, paid more than €9,000 to the clinic, after being told in May of that year that the boy had just six months to live.
Conor received photodynamic treatment at the clinic in July 2002, oLUUON (LOM LPR MONONOKE Ke
Another patient, John James Gal- lagher, from Mullingar, County Westmeath, died from cancer of the liver on September 6, 2002.
He said it will be alleged Dr Car-
mody described photodynamic treat- ment to him as “magic”, in January 2002, and referred to chemotherapy as “barbaric.”
Another patient, John Sheridan (58), from Kells, County Kilkenny, died on November 2, 2002, having been diagnosed with cancer of the liver the previous year.
“Dr Carmody told them (his fam- ily) John was a strong man and was suitable for photodynamic _ treat- ment,” said Counsel.
The treatment was carried out and Mr Sheridan believed Dr Carmody would cure him. However, he died at home.
A fourth patient, Mary O’Connor, moved home from Surrey to her na- tive County Cork, having been diag- nosed with lung cancer in February PAU OPA
Her photodynamic treatment com- menced on March 12, 2002, but she died on May 6.
Another woman, Josephine Dur- kan, of Beechgrove, Lucan, County Dublin, was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2000. Her husband Kieran was told by her doctor in Feb- ruary 2002 that she had only weeks to live. She went to the East Clinic in Killaloe in March, where she re- ceived photodynamic treatment, but died on April 22, 2002.
Karen Kurvink from Holland, was diagnosed with breast cancer in Au- gust 2002 and received photodynam- ic treatment at East Clinic that Octo- ber, but died the following May.
The trial, before Judge Rory Mc- Cabe and a jury of nine men and three women, 1s expected to last four weeks.