Victim was shot and injured last weekend in Dunmurry
The PSNI contacted police in Scotland before planned surgery on a Belfast republican who was shot last weekend was halted.
Sean O’Reilly was shot twice as he sat in his parked taxi in the Bell Steel Manor area of Dunmurry at around 10.30am on Sunday.
The shooting comes after months of escalating tensions linked to dissident group Óglaigh na hÉireann (ÓNH).
A former prisoner, Mr O’Reilly is a senior member of Republican Network for Unity and known to be close to a prominent dissident republican placed under death threat last year.
He was later taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he is under armed guard, for treatment.
His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
He underwent surgery on Monday for a bullet which had lodged in his collarbone.
Scans show the 49-year-old has suffered a severed nerve in his left bicep that now requires surgery.
He was due to travel to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow on Thursday.
In a letter the PSNI confirmed they had contacted Police Scotland “so that it could make arrangements for managing the risk to Mr O’Reilly while in hospital in Glasgow”.
The letter, which was signed by a PSNI legal adviser, said the police service had no contact with the hospital.
“It would appear that the management of the hospital in Glasgow had not realised there were any extra considerations to be taken into account before accepting your client into their care,” the letter states.
“Our understanding is that those in charge of the hospital are not willing to accept Mr O’Reilly.”
When contacted on Thursday the PSNI suggested The Irish News contact the NHS.
Police Scotland was asked if it contacted Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
It did not respond directly, but suggested the Irish News contact the PSNI or NHS in Glasgow.
A spokesman for the NHS in Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it “cannot discuss individual patient cases for reasons of confidentiality”.
Solicitor Peter Corrigan, of Phoenix Law, said he is pursuing a judicial review of several organisations including the PSNI, MI5 and Scottish authorities “to establish who is actually responsible for the decision not to give my client the emergency medical attention that he requires”.
Mr Corrigan said there has been “a violation” of Mr O’Reilly’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights “not to be subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment resulting in permanent injury”.
“Who is responsible for that?
“Is it honestly the case that the PSNI and MI5 are saying that Scottish doctors and surgeons, who have taken the Hippocratic oath, are not going to give the request surgery to Sean O’Reilly.
“That’s totally untenable in our view.”
by WrongdoerGold1683
8 comments
First part of the Hippocratic Oath is “First do no harm”. Perhaps there is more subjective interpretations to this when helping active paramilitaries.
Maybe it is a naive view since the precedent it creates and the nature of these organisations is that they seem to be perpetual. Plus the fact O’ Reilly belongs to the pro peace faction of the ONH split, and stands between them and targeting security forces adds mud to the already muddy waters.
There is absolutely no way that Scottish surgeons have any issue whatsoever operating on this man. I have treated terrorists, murderers and rapists in my time and they got the same care as granny Maisie who rescues kittens. Same for every doctor and nurse I know.
Do I think that some faceless manager in an office somewhere in a hospital in Glasgow would have ‘cancelled’ this? Yup, 100% cos they do not care.
See the same for every problem here in the NHS. Frontline staff doing their absolute best but faceless droids in offices making decisions to ‘tick boxes’ and count numbers without giving a fuck about the effect on people’s lives. It’s not lives to them, it’s spreadsheets and ‘cost effectiveness’ and ‘efficiency drives’ 🤬
God help us.
Why did they consider taking him to Glasgow when the nearest hospital, RVH, specialises in gunshot wounds?
Lol fuck this guy
[deleted]
I would have thought NI would have plenty of surgeons up to the task. Has all that experience gone from the troubles?
“Britain out of Ireland”
Then cries when Britain won’t help him, this is some high level /r/leopardsatemyface
Awful treatment at the hands of the state. Wishing him a full and quick recovery <3
Comments are closed.