‘We rechristened our kitchen the Law Library’: Negligence claim had toll on vindicated surgeon

Fussy, pernickety and “hopefully thorough”. That is how breast and general surgeon Michael Sugrue describes his approach to clinical practice.While HSE colleagues often talked of their concerns about the potential to be sued, legal issues that can arise out of surgical work were not really on the former Letterkenny University Hospital consultant’s radar. He was focused on maintaining standards and believes he ran a “very tight ship” at the Donegal breast unit.“I always thought if you looked after the patient then you didn’t have to worry about the lawyers,” Sugrue says. “We do occasionally make mistakes and we inform the patient. It is their right to potentially sue you, but it never really worried me as such.”But in mid-2022, after about 30 years working as a consultant and just a few yea