Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Back on 30 March our posting here was entitled "She was taken off life support..." and it concerned the tragic death of Irishwoman Kay Kelly Cregan following cosmetic surgery performed by Dr Michael Sachs in his offices in Manhattan. The New York Times Magazine followed up on the story at the weekend with "The Irish Patient and Dr. Lawsuit" by Warren St. John.

Noteworthy in the article is the role of Ireland's top-selling newspaper, The Sunday Independent, in the tragedy. According to the New York Times, "In 2004 an Irish grandmother named Helen Donaghy agreed to allow a reporter from The Sunday Independent to chronicle a face-lift that Dr. Sachs would perform free." Surely a conflict of interest for the doctor and the journalist? Surely a dubious deal by the newspaper? Apparently not, because the result was a glowing story in the weekly's Sunday magazine section, which included the web address of Dr Sachs. Was there any mention that he had made 33 malpractice payments during the past decade, more than any other doctor in New York? No. Here's what Brendan O'Connor, editor of The Sunday Independent magazine, told Warren St. John: "If this guy is fit to practice medicine in the United States, who are we to say he's not fit to practice?" O'Connor later added that he was unaware of the lawsuits or the restrictions placed on Sachs by New York State health authorities, although this information is freely available and has been for years.

St. John writes that "The article made an impression on Mrs. Cregan, a town clerk in Limerick, who was quietly despairing over her appearance." The rest, we know.

Ireland's economic boom of the past decade has been accompanied by a dramatic coarsening of Irish life and the The Sunday Independent's veneration of the shallow, the crass and the crude has contributed significantly to the trend. Although the paper has taken an admirable stance against Sinn Fein/IRA, it has simultaneously debased the very notion of journalism by making its reporters the central figures in stories that focus on the intimacies of minor celebrities, the ecstasy of conspicuous consumption, the fetish of youth and the thrill of inside access. These articles make an impression on their readers, leaving many of them feeling envious and wanting. Or, in the case of Kay Kelly Cregan, making an appointment with Dr Sachs — an appointment with death.