Whistleblower

when its a true story such as that i never really take much notice of the acting quality or realism as i am captivated more or less by the fact that this actually happened in our society. contrary to that point i thought stanley townsend had fantastic screen presence as neary. the guy is a fantastic actor.

the drama was harrowing and my heart goes out to the women involved in what can only be described as negligence or even butchery of the most horrific nature. neary was a monster and the people who gave their support - no better.

full credit to the anonymous midwife who raised her concerns as it would still be going on today if no one stood up to this maniac. and fair play must also be awarded to the administration staff who dealt with the information in the most professional and urgent manner.

Nearys arrogance combined his inabilty to modernise and brush up on his medical skills and his unwillingness to consult with peers added with the irish medicals system and local soceity's trust in him ruined the lifes of 129 women.

You could draw comparisons with eamonn butterly the stardust owner whos own arrogance and superiority complex and absurd practises in his business, also ruined many lives.

And he wasnt a million miles away either from a certain dr harold shipman....we'll never know nearys motive for what he did but thankfully the victims got some form of justice. no amount of money will ever give them back the quality of life they once had but for him to be disgraced by the legal system gives them back some of their dignity

Phototoxin

He did not consult with other doctors and treated these women like animals

what other doctors ? you mean 1 of the other *two* that may or may not have been around with holidays/time of day/etc ?

I doubt any of his actions would have been tolerated if he had been needlessly removing testicles but then of course it seems the penis and male reproductive organs are viewed with far more reverence than a woman could ever wish to be.

+1 for man hating, how logical of a step. if we revere men ten how come there are more gynecologists/obstetricians than specialists for men?

The FACT is that Neary was a sick, arrogant bastard that maimed and ruined many people's lives.

sick - are you a doctor - have you diagnosed him with anything ?
arrogant - possibly, I've never met the man
bastard - i somehow doubt that he is an illegitmate child

I don't give a damn about what legal protections/loopholes people come up with.

right time to let all the rapists and pœdos out from prison, as you dont care about the legal protection (of the public?)


I wish people would focus on facts, the program has clearly been sensationalised in true RTÉ dramatic style.

Phototoxin

Phototoxin wrote: »

I wish people would focus on facts, the program has clearly been sensationalised in true RTÉ dramatic style.

perhaps you should ask each and evry one of his patients if the drama was 'overdramatic'. rte would have to a very very great deal of fact in the program, otherwise they could be sued by said doctor.

bastard - i somehow doubt that he is an illegitmate child

well i dont think that is what the poster was getting at mate. really no need for that sarcasm. he's a bastard in the sense that he was too arrogant, narrow minded and pompus to embrace newer and more up to date and safer procedures. other doctors always look for ways to improve but that vain dinosaur thought himself too good and invincible to improve his methods.

lucozader

the people of louth should be ashamed of supporting Dr Neary

this dude here from Louth supporting him here probably is the evil Neary or the scum that protected him by destroying records etc...

amacachi

lucozader wrote: »

the people of louth should be ashamed of supporting Dr Neary

this dude here from Louth supporting him here probably is the evil Neary or the scum that protected him by destroying records etc...

Wrong forum matey... http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=576

lbourkey

johnnyrotten wrote: »

I thought it was good overall.
There was one major flaw. The last scene shows the Kid in the back of the car with no seatbelt.
Not a good thing to show on TV!

the drama was set in the late 80's/early 90's when seatbelts in the back were scarce and most people didn't use them anyway.

Thought it was good - good actors in the main with a few dodgy cases. think RTE sometimes go for names instead of ability.... good that they had the balls to show the system for what it was and probably still is in lots of places.

gordon_gekko

lucozader wrote: »

the people of louth should be ashamed of supporting Dr Neary

this dude here from Louth supporting him here probably is the evil Neary or the scum that protected him by destroying records etc...

i would say its more to do with him being from doctor stock than him being from county louth

there is no bigger clique in irish society than that of the medical doctor fraternity

optogirl

Phototoxin - you should change your onscreen name to one of the following:

1. Ostrich Syndrome
2. Pedantic Pants
3. Last person you'd want to have a pint with

delly

As a blow in to Drogheda from Dublin, I can't believe that such a backward view the locals had in the mid-ninties. You would think its the seventies rather than so recently.

I thought the program was well made and the birth scene in part one was very realistic, I would imagine that took half there budget it up as it was the only one we saw.

Elmo

The first episode move too slowly and the second too fast.

The acting I think suffered because of the script.

I thought it was good that they just delt with 1 women who had suffered I think to add in extra women would have been a little too much.

But it could have been a bit more Erin Brookivich (sp?) in style. A lead up to the issues that the young midwife has rather then, just coming to a conclusion straight away. They failed to give the viewer the idea of the time that had passed, even with the reference to old TV programmes, people couldn't have know how long it took the midwife to get the NEHB on her side. And the pressure she was under was not well discussed.

It did help that most of the cars had NCT stickers but that being picky. And Know Your Sport ended in the early 1990's AFAIK.

The pace was complete wrong for this story. It such a pity because it is such an interesting story.

Average if you had turn on TG4 for the Running Mate you would see how average it was.

Pity.

The girl who played Mrs. Harrington is an excellent actress. She was in Pure Mule. and she is in the new drama RAW which starts next week. Also Hilda Fay from Fair City need to leave that show and find a new one, she is a very capable actress.

beanyb

Phototoxin wrote: »

I wish people would focus on facts, the program has clearly been sensationalised in true RTÉ dramatic style.

Practically everything that happened in the show happened in real life. The Karen Harrington character is a composite of various experiences that many of the women had, but everything major that happened to her in the show, happened to a real person. The same goes for many of the other characters. And every single thing that Neary in the programme did or said really happened. They had to be very careful about that or they could have been sued, as another poster already pointed out.

I am coming from a biased perspective here as my mother is involved in Patient Focus, but as far as I am aware (and as far as any of the women involved seem to be concerned) there was no sensationalisation here for dramatic purposes at all. The true story was already sensational enough for there to be any need for that. You really couldnt make it up.

amdublin

The only bit of sensationalism I saw was that kid jumping out of nowhere at the end. Jaysus he scared the bejaysus out of me :-)

No seriously, I read the official report and it seemed to me that it was a very accurate representation of what went on.

Oracle

I thought this show was one of the best things RTE have done in a long time. If anything the story warranted a much longer time span, for example, a 6-10 part drama series. They could have made a far more dramatic and commercially successful show if they slowly unraveled the scandal, the subsquent whistle blowing, and then built it up to a riveting climax between the authorities and Neary over several weeks. It would have been a huge blockbuster for them.

I have to mention the actress who played Josephine in the first episode - Hilda Fay. Her screams of protest, and heart wrenching pleas to all around her while in the theatre, will haunt me for a long time, what a great actress. It's a pity she strangely disappeared after the first episode.

xbox36016

it was good