Madam, - Darach Crimmins (July 1st) ably summarises the compelling arguments for a single-site major paediatric hospital advanced by the Health Service Executive commissioned report, "Children's Health First" and accepted by the Government.
Whether the hospital is eventually built at the Mater or on some other site the provision of separate governance and ownership structures is essential to ensure the institution's independence of sectarian interest of any kind.
This should allay the fears and apprehensions voiced by Dr O'Ferrall (June 29th), and others who profess to represent the voice of the Protestant community.
Their fear that the Adelaide & Meath Hospital at Tallaght would cease to be a major contributor to Irish healthcare if deprived of a paediatric hospital on the site is without foundation. If this were the case, where would it leave the other major hospitals in the State including the Mater, St James's, Beaumont, St Vincent's and the university hospitals in Cork and Galway?
Dr O'Ferrall's statement that doctors working in institutions other than the Adelaide & Meath may not treat their patients in a "private, confidential relationship" is deeply, though perhaps inadvertently, offensive. Privacy and confidentiality in the doctor-patient relationship are at the core of the code of practice and ethics of all medical practitioners and do not require the protection of a charter. It may be that Dr O'Ferrall did not consider the implications of this sentence and if so he should clarify its meaning.
In 42 years of medical practice at St Vincent's, St James's and formerly the Dublin Voluntary Hospitals I have never encountered a single instance in which an attempt was made to force medical practitioners to violate this principle.
Finally, your Editorial of June 30th further surprises me in that it fails to recognise and advocate the best interests of the children of this country who deserve the benefit of a new hospital built, equipped and staffed to the highest international standards. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN MAURER, Booterstown, Co Dublin.