Dated - November 4, 2019
Professor David Bouchier-Hayes’s Eulogy
Presented by Professor Paddy Broe
Reverend Father(s), Ladies and Gentlemen… Could I firstly, on behalf of myself and Liz and the congregation gathered here today, extend our deepest sympathies to Margaret, David Jnr, Jonathan, Lisa, daughter-in-law Mary, son-in-law John and the 2 grandchildren Liesel and Joe, as well as to the extended Bouchier Hayes family on the very sad passing of David.
I am deeply touched and honoured to have been asked by Margaret and family to deliver this eulogy for David. Its preparation saddened and amused me in equal measure as I recalled David’s many qualities including his great intellect and wit as well as the many challenges and issues that faced him during his illustrious career.
Unfortunately for all of us, David’s spirit and wonderful intellect has left us for some years now and many of his close colleagues and friends haven’t seen him for some time. Margaret and the family’s firm desire however is, and has been, that we should remember David as he was at the height of his powers and career and this euology will hopefully celebrate his many achievements and his legacy and in doing so , will refresh those memories of him as we knew him before his illness
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I know Margaret and her family are very grateful and moved by the support of all here present and others who cannot be here and by the many messages of condolences received on various whats apps, the RCSI alumni website and individual texts and emails. That support means so much to them at this difficult time.
David graduated from UCD in 1965 taking the gold medal in paediatrics and silver medal in obstetrics. Like his father before him, David pursued a career in surgery and after a few years in training posts in Dublin he went to work in Glasgow .His father had died when he was in medical school and Bob O Connell, a friend of his fathers, was his mentor and had advised him to move abroad. There was no structured surgical training programme in Ireland at that time and David returned to St Vincent’s Hospital in 1974 to work as Registrar/ Tutor in the Professorial Unit .I graduated in 1974 and was the intern on that service and David and I struck up an immediate and lifelong friendship.
As a young surgeon he was a wonderful clinician, teacher and trainer with a passion for caring for his patients to the best of his ability. A great role model for us all. I had done some electives in surgery during my student days and enjoyed them. David, however, was inspirational and was a key influencer for me and many others of my generation and beyond in choosing a surgical career. He had a brilliant mind, a sharp wit and was innovative in his approach at all times. He was a voracious reader and if I ventured into discussions with him about what he and I were reading he would say with a mischievous grin, “Did the crayons come with the book or did you have to buy them separately?”
You wouldn’t want to be too sensitive but he was well able to take as good as he gave.
The concept of continuing medical education hadn’t landed in those days but David (ahead of his time in this as in many other things) recognised the need for all of us to be familiar with the up-to-date literature and to have as much evidence on which to base our opinions and understanding of modern treatments. In the middle of debates with colleagues he was well known for saying, usually from the back of the auditorium, “I refer you to…” and he would quote the reference for the article on which he was basing his opinions.
After 2 years in St Vincent’s Hospital, and a year of research in Boston ,David moved to the Richmond as Lecturer/ Tutor with Professor Bill McGowan. He was enthralled with working in the hospital where his late father had been a legendary clinical teacher and he continued that Bouchier Hayes tradition. He was appointed to the Consultant staff in 1979 and 3 years later to the Chair of Surgery in the RCSI Medical School. I went to the Richmond as Senior Registrar in 1983 and renewed our close working relationship as both his SR and later his Lecturer and Consultant colleague.
As Professor he loved engagement with the students and gave them a lot of attention and time. Coming close to exam time the students, however, understandably wanted quite focussed tutorials and clinics on topics that might appear in the exam. As his lecturer I would get the feedback from the students that Professor Bouchier Hayes was discussing Greek philosophy or the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh. When I relayed this to David he’d say, “Broe, you can educate them for exams, I will educate them for life!” Another favourite quote of his was “Broe, I know I’ve taught you all you know but I haven’t taught you all *I* know.”
As Professor of Surgery in the Richmond, David built an enormous practice in Vascular Surgery. He had an open door policy for all emergencies and believed a call from a colleague from a country hospital was almost a contract and that we should respond accordingly which meant accepting transfer of the patient. The record was 3 ruptured aneurysms in one evening and to his eternal credit and leading by example he was always there himself for those cases despite the heavy non-clinical demands of the Professorial job. The Richmond was an exciting place to work in those days and many of the senior trainees including the late Arthur Tanner, John Hyland, Joe Duignan, Denis Mehigan, Paul Burke, Pierce Grace (and the list goes on…) rotated through David’s department. I was the lucky one who got appointed as a Consultant at the Richmond and afterwards at Beaumont Hospital. Not only did David train us clinically and in the art of technical surgery but he helped us to write our theses, prepare our talks and presentations and was hugely generous of his time .And it continued.Here is a quote from Ger McGreal , who was David’s Senior Registrar in 2000 “His generosity with his time in making a thesis out of disjointed scrapes of paper was a turning point for my career for which I will always be grateful”.
It wasn’t all work and we enjoyed many evenings in the local hostelry, which was all part of building the team and developing collegiality. Teamwork is now almost a science with demonstrable evidence of better patient care and better outcomes when the team looking after them functions well. Another example perhaps of David being ahead of his time but I’d have to admit he enjoyed his pint of Smithwicks with a Guinness head as well. He had no airs and graces about him and he didn’t think he was anything special because he was a Professor. He was the clear leader but his style was inclusive and democratic which engendered tremendous loyalty and personal support for him. Mind you, if he got cross you would be ducking for cover, but in fairness that was rare.
I referred earlier to David’s innovative skills and this is best illustrated by his experience of laparoscopic surgery. He spotted the early reports of successful keyhole/laparoscopic surgical procedures. Serendipity helped as Jim Coleman who had worked as a trainee with David was at that time a Fellow in a Surgical Department in Cologne. He borrowed some prototype laparoscopic instruments , brought them to Dublin and David and his surgical team performed the first successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Ireland at Beaumont Hospital. In keeping with his generous spirit and interests in education and patient safety he set up a mentorship system where members of his department travelled to other surgical units nationwide to help the surgeons safely introduce laparoscopic techniques. This was a unique national effort that resulted in the safe introduction of the technique and better outcomes for patients.
In 1984 David was elected President of the RCSI Students Biological Society which meant giving an inaugural lecture, and as Margaret would say, throwing a party afterwards.He was very proud of the fact that his father had been president of the same society in 1950. We were walking on Killiney beach before the event and in a wide ranging discussion about his lecture he expressed concern about his lack of progress in developing a surgical research laboratory. His research output and engagement was well below what he would have wished. Whilst a lot of his trainees including myself had travelled abroad to do surgical research, successful productivity abroad had not translated into significant productive activity at home. A few years later however two very bright young trainees, Paul Redmond and Cathal Kelly, having done small animal laboratory research abroad got going with the same activity in David’s department when they returned home and within a few short years most of the surgical trainees were staying in Ireland to do their research. “A paradigm shift” as he would say himself.
The Irish almost took over the Surgical Research Society (of which David later became President), the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and the Surgical Research Forum of the American College of Surgeons. David’s research fellows dominated the quality presentations at these meetings and came away with Patey Prizes and Moynihan Medals on many an occasion. He was very “hands on” with the writing and preparation of presentations of the work and I don’t believe I ever saw him happier in his professional life. He had cracked the third element of his role as Professor – successful clinical practice, educating the medical students, and supporting surgical research for higher degrees and publication. There after his research output was prolific with over 200 publications in peer reviewed journals.
As time passed he appointed additional colleagues: Austin Leahy, Cathal Kelly and Darragh Moneley, and his clinical commitments decreased. David never felt threatened by additional colleagues and always embraced and supported them and indeed referred patients to them. As his clinical involvement lessened his research laboratory and support for his Surgical Researchers and Post-docs became his major interest and he mentored and supported very many young trainees.
At the height of his clinical and research activity he became the Dean of the Medical School in RCSI and with his former classmate and friend, Kevin O’Malley, made a huge contribution to the development and expansion of the Medical School.
He was a member of editorial boards of several journals and was editor of the Irish Journal of Medical Science. He was an outstanding speaker and gave many eponymous lectures as well as being President of the Academy and many student societies in RCSI. In his younger days David and I played a lot of tennis with and against each other and a lesser amount of squash. I gave up the squash because once he got that block of a body of his into the centre of the squash court he was hard to displace!!
He played a bit of golf later on but never got the real bug for it. He preferred a game of snooker in Fitzwilliam with his lifelong friend John Browne. He enjoyed retreating to Connemara where he and Margaret had a summer home.
Throughout his illustrious career David has had the tremendous support of his beloved wife Margaret and their children. He was very proud of David, Jonathan and Lisa and of their career achievements. Margaret and David loved to entertain and we all were beneficiaries of their generous hospitality on multiple occasions.
David sometimes mused about his legacy, even before he had one! He needn’t have been concerned. He was an outstanding clinical and technical surgeon whose first concern always was the care of his patients, who he treated with compassion and empathy. His contribution to Irish Surgery in terms of education, training and mentorship was immense. He was a thinker and innovator whose passion was scientific endeavour and investigation directed towards solving clinical problems. Above all he was a kind and generous man, a great wit with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and great fun to be with.
He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, friend and colleague who will be greatly missed.
In the new building in RCSI, 26 York Street, there is a beautiful lecture theatre named after David. When it was commissioned some years ago he was well enough to attend and to hear first hand the regard in which he was held by all of us. Whenever I’m in that lecture room now I can feel his presence and charisma.
David, it was a privilege and a pleasure to have known you and to have been your friend and colleague and I know you will be welcomed with open arms to your final resting place as someone who devoted his whole life to the service of his fellow man.
Rest in peace.