A consultant obstetrician who is challenging his proposed removal from the register of medical practitioners after he was found guilty of misconduct relating to his treatment of four female patients, has told the High Court his working conditions were very stressful and he was under "unbearable pressure".
Dr Victor Moore said he had warned that the gynaecology service at Sligo General Hospital was "close to collapse" unless he got some rest.
He said he was entitled to a certain amount of rest days but they had not been granted. When he complained to management, he was told it was his responsibility to find a locum if he wanted the days off, he said.
Being unable to work was like having all four of his limbs removed, he also said. He was anxious to "have my life back" and to return to work as a doctor.
Dr Moore, a consultant obstetrician at Sligo General Hospital, said he had not worked for 24 months as a result of being found guilty of misconduct by the Fitness to Practise Committee of the Medical Council in relation to his treatment of four patients from 2002 to 2004.
Dr Moore, Kilwarlin Avenue, Hillsborough, Co Down, is seeking to overturn the council's decision of November 2005 that he was guilty of professional misconduct in relation to the four patients.
He is also challenging a finding that he was unfit to practise medicine by reason of physical and mental disability.
One patients, a 56-year-old woman with a condition involving a bulging inwards of the vaginal wall, suffered very serious post- operation complications following a procedure in April 2002.
Dealing with her case yesterday, Dr Moore said she required another operation two days later but her condition deteriorated.
It was discovered during a third operation by another surgeon that the patient sustained a hole in her bowel and an infection in the lining of her abdominal cavity.
Dr Moore said that there was no evidence of an injury by either sight or smell when he carried out the earlier operation and he was unsure exactly when or how the woman could have sustained the injury to her bowel.
He regretted very much the woman's injury as "it was not meant to happen".
Cross examined by Eoin McCullough SC, for the Medical Council, he said he was satisfied that he made the right choice of procedure in the circumstances.
He rejected evidence from other medical witnesses to the effect that he had made the wrong choice.
The case, which is being heard by Mr Justice Michael Hanna, continues today.