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Sad passing of Dr Denis McLaughlin
10.02.09
BUNCRANA has been
saddened by the death of the hugely respected and
widely loved Dr Denis McLaughlin.
Dr McLaughlin graduated from his medical studies at
UCD in 1949 and set up a practice in Buncrana soon
after. Over the years he touched the lives of
literally thousands of people in Buncrana and across
Inishowen and there was a palpable sense of sadness
as news of his death filtered around the town.
The longest-serving general practitioner in the
country, Dr McLaughlin, who was aged 85, was still
receiving patients up until last week.
“No matter whether they called him the wee doc, Dr
Denis or Dr the Egg Man, everyone knew Dr
McLaughlin,” his nephew Peter McLaughlin, a member
of Buncrana Town Council said yesterday.
“He was much respected and will be very sadly missed
and I’m sure at his wake and funeral over the next
couple of days that we will see just what he put
into the community. |
“It’s the end of an
era. He would be on call night and day. I remember
him being wakened out of his bed and coming home in
the early hours of the morning with his pyjamas
sticking out from under his trousers. But no matter
when the call would come, or where the person was
calling from, he would go to them because he worked
with the ethos that he was there to serve the
people.
"When times were tough and money wasn’t plentiful he
refused to make a distinction between patients and
they would pay |
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him with whatever they
could – I often saw him go out on a call and come
back with a bag of potatoes or turnips.”
“As my uncle, I suppose I viewed him in a different
light and he was always there for us. But he knew
everyone in the town and everything that was going
on in it,” Peter McLaughlin continued. “He knew
family histories going back generations and knew
what hereditary conditions affected families. With
Nurse McDaid and Nurse McCrudden he delivered
hundreds of babies in home births.
“He was very dedicated and committed to his
community from the moment he set up in Buncrana.
It’s the end of an era. Doctors like him don’t
practice anymore.”
Dr McLaughlin is survived by his wife Joan, sons
Charles, Ciaran, Fergal and Declan, daughter Kathryn
and grandchildren. (Inishowen Independent) For death
notice, click here |
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