Quadriplegic’s anger at two and a half year wait for kidney surgery

A quadriplegic in Connemara has been waiting almost two-and-a-half years to have a painful kidney stone removed.

Marty Coyne has been confined to a wheelchair for thirteen years after falling through a first-floor wooden joist just months after he returned home to live in Cleggan from London.

While his health had been relatively good despite his horrific injuries, Marty found himself in horrific pain day and night. He underwent tests and doctors discovered that a kidney stone measuring 4cm in diameter was the source of the discomfort.

He was advised that it would have to be surgically removed and on his discharge in October 2015 was told that a letter would be sent to his GP and the urology department referring him for surgery.

However, it turned out that neither had received a letter.

“By the summer of 2016, I called my GP to see if there any updates on the waiting list for surgery only to discover no referral had been made by the hospital. My GP got in touch with the hospital and I was called for an x-ray and a pre-op within a couple of months.

“From the pre-op in October 2016 until three weeks ago I heard nothing. Three weeks ago, I got a letter saying I would have my operation the following week if there was a bed available.”

The day before the operation, he received a call from the hospital informing him that there was no bed available and he would have to wait for another letter.

“It’s mistake, after mistake – a catalogue of errors. The left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. The public health nurse has followed up, my GP – yet here I am, two-and-a-half years after being told I needed surgery and it’s still not removed. It’s a complete joke.

“I realise I am not alone in my frustrating wait for medical treatment and that I am but another chart in a pile.”

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.