{"id":348481,"date":"2025-08-16T06:37:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T06:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/348481\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T06:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T06:37:14","slug":"an-irish-gp-on-his-traumatic-years-treating-qatars-elite-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/348481\/","title":{"rendered":"An Irish GP on his traumatic years treating Qatar\u2019s elite \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 22nd, 2020, began like any other day for Irish GP Paddy Davern. <\/p>\n

It was a Thursday and the Tipperary doctor, who had been working for several years in Qatar<\/a> as a physician for the royal family, received a call requesting he attend to a patient. He had treated the patient before but not frequently.<\/p>\n

The man had a long history of addiction and a \u201cfondness\u201d for guns; he often kept one near his bed. <\/p>\n

The man also had a history of making violent threats, according to healthcare workers who previously treated him, and a former bodyguard.<\/p>\n

Davern arrived at the patient\u2019s palace early that morning. As was typical, there were armed security guards at the entrance.<\/p>\n

The Tipperary man\u2019s time working in the Middle Eastern country was traumatic. Now he wants to share his story to warn international doctors to think twice about moving there, raising questions about its human-rights record and medical practices. <\/p>\n

A far cry<\/p>\n

Describing himself today as a \u201ccasualty of the Celtic Tiger\u201d, he moved to the Middle East in 2014 for financial reasons; public pay cuts in the wake of the Irish economic crash had left him in difficulty.<\/p>\n

A newly established mobile healthcare service in Qatar brought an opportunity to reverse his fortunes, he thought.<\/p>\n

The service was run out of Doha, Qatar\u2019s capital, by the Hamad Medical Corporation, the main public healthcare provider in the Gulf state, reporting to the country\u2019s minister for health.<\/p>\n

Davern worked for the mobile health service from 2014 until 2017, when he joined the Special Operations Service (SOS), a specialist medical team treating the country\u2019s royals and other VIPs.<\/p>\n

The role was a far cry from what he was used to in Tipperary, resulting in many unusual call-outs, including the one on October 22nd, 2020.<\/p>\n

That morning the Irish doctor says he was met with a request for pain relief as soon as he arrived at the patient\u2019s palace.<\/p>\n

Today, sitting at his dining table in Tipperary, the 62-year-old physically trembles, recalling what the patient did next.<\/p>\n

The patient \u201cwent into a rant, saying: \u2018You think I\u2019m an addict, I\u2019m not an addict\u2019\u201d, says Davern.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen he got a gun out from under his pillow, a black Glock [handgun]. And then he went around behind me and put the gun to the back of my head and started pacing around behind me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to do. I didn\u2019t want to make eye contact with him. I didn\u2019t want to talk to him. I just froze. I thought he was going to kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davern looked at the open door to the right of him, evaluating his options. He thought: \u201cCan I run for the door?\u201d He felt it was too far away and the man had a gun.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I turn around and tackle him?\u201d he remembers thinking then.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where he is because he\u2019s pacing behind me. I just stood there … I just thought this guy was going to kill me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The patient eventually calmed down enough to allow Davern examine him. Davern told him he needed to take blood samples to the laboratory, and would return when he had the results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my escape plan,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The threatened nurse<\/p>\n

Shortly after Davern left the compound, he says the patient started firing a gun outside another home where some of the patient\u2019s estranged family members lived. <\/p>\n

A nursing colleague of Davern\u2019s was also caught up in the incident. She rang Davern asking for help. When he attempted to remove her from the dangerous situation, he says an armed guard stopped him and had \u201ca rifle stuck in my chest\u201d.<\/p>\n

He begged the guard to let him go, he says. \u201cI said: \u2018If you keep me here, I\u2019m going to get shot.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The patient eventually returned to the compound and came face to face with Davern and the nurse. He told the Irish doctor to \u201cf**k off\u201d. <\/p>\n

Davern and the nurse were eventually allowed to leave.<\/p>\n

This day was the toughest of his eight years in the Middle East. However, he says it wasn\u2019t the only troubling interaction he faced while in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Pushing the envelope<\/p>\n

Two years earlier, in February 2018, Davern raised concerns with his boss, a British doctor named David Houston, about continuing to prescribe addictive painkillers to this same patient, according to Telegram messages between the two doctors, which have been seen by The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

\"Camel-mountedCamel-mounted royal guards patrol around the Amiri Diwan in Doha. Photograph: Adrian Dennis\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

In response to Davern\u2019s concerns, Houston told him SOS staff had to manage \u201cdifficult patients with complex care needs under challenging conditions\u201d. <\/p>\n

This \u201coften requires pushing the clinical, ethical and professional envelope while at all times avoiding crossing the line of safety\u201d, Houston wrote in a message on February 15th, 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuality and safe healthcare are paramount, but medical ethics and practicalities sometimes have to be compromised when one considers the bigger picture and possible outcomes of each course of action.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOS is run by the Qatari government and has a strict hierarchical structure, former employees have told The Irish Times. <\/p>\n

Houston, Davern\u2019s boss, served as executive director of the SOS, which was under the ambulance service, run by Prof Robert Owen, originally from South Africa. The ambulance service is part of the Hamad Medical Corporation.<\/p>\n

Working in the SOS created difficult situations for employees, multiple sources told The Irish Times. <\/p>\n

One former colleague of Davern\u2019s, who did not want to be named, described Qatar, which has a population of 3.12 million, as \u201ca place where it is very difficult to say no\u201d. <\/p>\n

The source said in the SOS doctors have to address \u201cethically dubious situations at short notice, at awkward times and often information-blind\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

This is not a democracy. The closer you are to the centre of power in Qatar, the less the rules are going to apply or can be bypassed or bent<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0James Lynch, a human rights researcher<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A VIP patient<\/p>\n

The treatment of another patient, in 2019, is another case that troubled Davern and two others who were familiar with her care.<\/p>\n

The woman, a member of an important Qatari family, was brought into the Naufar drugs and alcohol rehabilitation centre in Doha. The centre has a number of so-called villas where VIP patients stay.<\/p>\n

Staff were told the patient would be there for a long time, she was not to have any access to the internet or social media and police would be present at all times in her villa, according to notes of the directions given to clinicians and seen by The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

Despite being told she had an addiction, medics \u201cdidn\u2019t find any psychiatric or addiction problems\u201d upon assessment, one staff member said. This was confirmed by other sources familiar with her treatment.<\/p>\n

Multiple healthcare staff who treated the patient reported her saying she had been detained because she had written posts on social media that were critical of the country and its ruling family \u2013 a crime under Qatar\u2019s penal code, according to Human Rights Watch<\/a>, an international nongovernment organisation that investigates human rights abuses globally.<\/p>\n

A UK paramedic, who worked in Qatar for a number of years, described the woman as a \u201cnice, warm human being\u201d, but he says her health and appearance deteriorated due to a lack of socialisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would say she had chest pain or abdominal pain so you\u2019d go see her. But it was mainly just to talk to somebody,\u201d says the paramedic. \u201c[There was] no actual diagnosis and no actual crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March the patient stopped eating for a number of days, an internal email among medics shows. <\/p>\n

The email from Dr Houston to Prof Owen states she was frequently \u201cunhappy, tearful, subdued, anxious and feeling hopeless\u201d. <\/p>\n

They did not believe her actions were a \u201chunger strike\u201d, but she \u201cappears to be giving up and is ambivalent about the future\u201d. He cited not knowing why or for how long she would be in the facility as two \u201ccauses of her feelings and hopelessness\u201d.<\/p>\n

Davern says he attended to her on one occasion, on April 5th, 2019, and offered to make representations on her behalf over her continued detention, but she declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think she trusted people any more,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The woman was still in the facility when Davern left Qatar in 2021. At that point, she had been there for three years. Davern does not know her current whereabouts. <\/p>\n

\"WestWest Bay in Doha. Photograph: Patricia De Melo Moreira\/AFP via Getty \u2018This is not a democracy\u2019<\/p>\n

The outlined situations do not come as a surprise to James Lynch, a human rights researcher for UK-based NGO Fairsquare, and former British diplomat who was based in Doha.<\/p>\n

According to Lynch, the royal family in Qatar has \u201cabsolute power and total authority\u201d and as such, it can be very difficult to disagree or challenge any directions that come from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a democracy,\u201d he says. \u201cThe emir\u2019s word is final. I think it\u2019s fair to say the closer you are to the centre of power in Qatar, the less the rules are going to apply or can be bypassed or bent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three things that really struck Davern while in Qatar was the treatment of migrant workers, the criminalisation of same-sex relationships, and the attitudes towards women, who can face arrest and up to seven years\u2019 imprisonment for sex, pregnancy and childbirth outside marriage.<\/p>\n

He recalls one woman he treated in hospital, who miscarried twins in 2017 when she was 27 weeks pregnant. The Kenyan national says she was married, but came to Qatar without her husband on a single visa.<\/p>\n

The patient, who spoke to The Irish Times but did not want to be identified, says her unplanned pregnancy occurred during a visit to Kenya but Qatari police did not believe it was within a marriage due to a lack of physical documentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had just lost my kids,\u201d she says. \u201cJust an hour after I delivered them, the police were already there. It was a horrid moment. They said they were just waiting for the hospital to clear me and then they would take me to jail,\u201d says the woman, crying at the memory.<\/p>\n

On her fifth day in hospital, Davern visited. She told him her story. He promised to help her \u2013 organising accommodation, writing letters of support and attending meetings and hearings with and for her.<\/p>\n

The police, she says, had her passport; she could not leave the country.<\/p>\n

After six months of uncertainty, she was told she was free to leave. She now has a three-year old son, has remarried and is living in another country in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

She is grateful for Davern whom she calls \u201ca friend, a mentor and a doctor all in one\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked why he helped, Davern says: \u201cI kept thinking that could be my daughter. And if it was my daughter, I would like someone who can help to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Davern says he constantly questioned the ethics of Qatar, finances kept him from leaving sooner.<\/p>\n

A new job<\/p>\n

On October 10th, 2021, almost a year after he was held at gunpoint, he submitted his resignation after learning his father was dying. He arrived in Ireland on December 2nd that year, missing his father\u2019s death by two days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never got to tell him that I loved him,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

When he return to Ireland, Davern threw himself into a new job but the high-profile advertisements for the football World Cup in Qatar in 2022 resurfaced difficult memories and he became angry.<\/p>\n

It was a turning point; he realised he had not come to terms with the impact of his time in Qatar.<\/p>\n

He called his friend, fellow GP in Cork, Don Coffey telling him: \u201cI need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two doctors had met when they worked in Qatar. While in the Gulf state, Coffey says Davern was \u201ca very solid man\u201d and \u201cgo-to person for people who wanted help\u201d.<\/p>\n

But when he reached out for help, he was completely different, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very quiet, preoccupied,\u201d says Coffey. \u201cHe had poor sleep and was ruminating a lot about what happened in Qatar. He was quite anxious. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what depression does to us. People lose their personality, their zest for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Paddy Davern: at weekends, he drank too much wine. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

In August 2022 Davern was prescribed antidepressants and began therapy. Reports by his treating clinicians state he was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n

But his time in Qatar continued to plague him.<\/p>\n

At weekends, he drank too much wine, playing the events from his time in the Middle East over and over again in his head.<\/p>\n

It was on a number of these occasions after drinking, between March and November 2022, he sent a barrage of threatening and aggressive messages to former colleagues he worked with in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Davern made death threats, called those former colleagues names, abused them in messages, criticised their religion, families and backgrounds, using crude, racist and ableist language he is now deeply ashamed of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is something I really regret,\u201d says Davern. \u201cIt\u2019s not representative of my values. I\u2019m very ashamed of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an official report dated October 22nd, 2024, Joan Long, his treating psychologist, said the messages were sent while Davern was under the influence of alcohol \u201cat a time when he was most vulnerable and grieving his father\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said it was \u201cvery significant\u201d that Davern was \u201cexperiencing severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms at this time\u201d due to the trauma of his past work in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Irish Times, Long explained \u201cwhen someone feels that powerless and they\u2019re traumatised, they will carry out behaviours and do things that are out of character for them and are wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to his abusive messages, between November 10th and 23rd, 2022, three former colleagues \u2013 his former boss at SOS, David Houston; Nick Castle; and Abdul Rahman Bagher Raeissi \u2013 individually reported Davern to the Irish Medical Council<\/a>, the regulatory body for the medical profession in Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u2018No sufficient cause\u2019<\/p>\n

Two years later, in November 2024, the regulator closed the complaints against him, acknowledging his response that the \u201cextremely difficult and challenging working environment\u201d while in Qatar had \u201ca significant impact\u201d on his mental health.<\/p>\n

Minutes of the council\u2019s complaints committee state: \u201cThere is no sufficient cause to warrant further action being taken in relation to the complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Irish Times sought comment from Dr David Houston and Prof Robert Owen, Davern\u2019s former bosses in Qatar, on the Tipperary doctor\u2019s account of his time working for them. A London-based solicitor Cameron Doley, representing them, responded to detailed queries over a number of weeks.<\/p>\n

He declined to comment on interactions with patients Davern treated in Qatar, saying it would be a serious breach of professional obligations.<\/p>\n

Doley said Davern was \u201cimmediately offered support\u201d by his employers after being held at gunpoint in 2020, but the Tipperary doctor declined this offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe matter was also escalated immediately to the Minister of Public Health and all necessary steps were taken by the authorities to secure the safety of all relevant healthcare professionals and the public more generally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Doley pointed out that the Telegram messages between Davern and Houston in February 2018 about \u201cpushing the clinical, ethical and professional envelope\u201d contained \u201cno instance\u201d of Davern disagreeing with Houston on administering painkillers to the patient with a history of addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cDenying effective analgesia to a patient in pain on the basis that they are recovering from substance misuse and\/or display challenging behaviour would be considered as being highly unethical by medical professionals anywhere in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

An \u2018axe to grind\u2019<\/p>\n

Asked about the woman purportedly treated for addiction for years from 2019, Doley said he couldn\u2019t comment due to \u201cdoctor-patient confidentiality\u201d but said the case was \u201cfar more complex\u201d than had been \u201capparently related to you\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to queries, Doley raised questions about Davern\u2019s credibility, pointing to the abusive messages he sent his former colleagues in Qatar. He described Davern as a \u201cclassic example of a source wholly lacking in objectivity having scores to settle\u201d.<\/p>\n

Responding, Davern denies he has an \u201caxe to grind\u201d, adding that he was often commended for his work by members of the royal family, and he received all his pay and conditions.<\/p>\n

A number of questions about Davern\u2019s work and the treatment of vulnerable members of society were sent by The Irish Times to Qatar\u2019s international media office, which were, in turn, shared with Doley. <\/p>\n

He did not respond to a query asking whether he was responding on their behalf.<\/p>\n

Davern has returned to normal life at home in Ireland, working as a doctor four days a week. <\/p>\n

It is almost four years since he left Qatar, but he visibly wears the weight of those experiences. He has a friendly but nervous disposition. <\/p>\n

Asked why he is raising these issues again, he says he feels a duty to speak out about what he describes as injustices in Qatar.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatient one doesn\u2019t have a voice. Patient two doesn\u2019t have a voice. These people, they don\u2019t have a voice. But I do,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd people need to know what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 22nd, 2020, began like any other day for Irish GP Paddy Davern. It was a Thursday and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,75519,123362,6860,41590,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-348481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-human-rights-watch","11":"tag-irish-medical-council","12":"tag-qatar","13":"tag-tipperary","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115037067313987131","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}