The Medical Council's fitness to practise committee has decided that doctors criticised in an independent report into the death of a man who bled to death at Monaghan General Hospital have no case to answer.
The independent report into the death of Pat Joe Walsh (75) from Killanny, Carrickmacross, was sent to the Medical Council by the Health Service Executive following its publication last September.
After a general discussion on the report, members of the council decided to refer it on to the council's fitness to practise committee for consideration.
This committee decided, after considering the report and the observations of the doctors criticised in it, that the doctors had no prima facie case to answer.
This means the committee has decided not to hold a fitness to practise inquiry into the doctors.
While news of the committee's decision emerged only yesterday, it is understood it was made just before Christmas and that the doctors involved have already or will shortly receive letters to this effect.
The decision of the fitness to practise committee will now have to be ratified by a meeting of the full Medical Council later this month.
While it is possible for the full council meeting to overturn a decision of the fitness to practise committee and order an inquiry to be held, this rarely happens.
Mr Walsh bled to death at Monaghan hospital in October 2005 after doctors failed in their attempt to transfer him to hospitals in Cavan or Drogheda for emergency surgery on a bleeding ulcer.
A junior doctor at Monaghan hospital sought the transfer because Monaghan hospital is not permitted to carry out emergency surgery.
The inquiry into Mr Walsh's death ordered by the HSE was carried out by Declan Carey, a consultant surgeon at Belfast City Hospital, and Prof John Monson, professor of surgery at the University of Hull.
It found the unwillingness of surgeons to accept Mr Walsh in Cavan or Drogheda was unacceptable.
They also found that the on-call consultant in Monaghan should have made direct contact with consultants in Cavan and Drogheda to try and effect the transfer himself.
The on-call consultant in Monaghan was named in the inquiry report as Roy Cazabon, while the consultants on call in Cavan and Drogheda were named as Noel McMurray and Mr El-Masry.
There was no comment yesterday from the Walsh family on the fitness to practise committee's decision. The family has begun a legal action for damages against the State and the HSE.
Meanwhile in a separate development hospital campaigners in Monaghan have criticised the decision of the HSE not to renew the contract of one of two consultants working in the casualty department of Monaghan General Hospital. Local GP Dr Illona Duffy said it was a further example of the HSE downgrading services at Monaghan hospital, despite its insistence that no other services would be removed until safer services were put in place.