Dr Marian Rice-Bourke died on April 3rd this year after a prolonged illness which forced her to retire early from her consultant post in anaesthesia at St Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin. Marian qualified from University College Dublin in 1956. She spent six years in training in hospitals in England including a period in the prestigious Royal Post-graduate Medical School in London.
She then returned to Ireland to continue training in rotational posts in anaesthesia in Dublin. From 1965, for a period of 18 months, she was a Lecturer in Anaesthetics in Harvard at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
In 1979, she became one of the first women consultants at St Vincent's Hospital in recognition of her expertise and ability in the management of her patients. Today's anaesthetists can rely on a variety of monitoring and mechanical devices to aid them in the control of both the level of anaesthesia and its systemic effects on patients. In Marian's early days of training, anaesthetists had to depend mainly on their clinical abilities. Her clinical awareness and sensitivity, blended with her excellent scientific training, made her an outstanding anaesthetist.
As a consultant she brought many new ideas and skills acquired from the time she had spent abroad. She had a keen interest in teaching and was both a Member of the Board and an Examiner in the Faculty of Anaesthesia at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, all before the commencement of the structured teaching programme of today.
To her professional colleagues, she will always be remembered as a first class anaesthetist, technically skilful, courageous and calm in emergencies. She was always supportive and understanding in her relations with patients and members of staff. Her personality was such that one could easily talk to her, and very many people - patients, students, nurses, medical colleagues - confided in her, knowing they would be listened to with sympathy, respect and trust. Forever graceful and gracious, she never appeared to be rushed or hurried. She possessed a special and natural elegance, apparently effortless and uncontrived in her demeanour and attitude towards everyone.
Marian was an accomplished painter who loved art, music and literature, a joy shared with her husband Geoffrey. She always appeared serene in spite of battling with her chronic illness which forced her into early retirement.
We extend our sympathies to Geoffrey and her step family and brother. We share their sorrow in the sad loss of this exceptional lady. R.A.