Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Dr. O'Keeffe stated earlier that it was deemed that the treating consultant should be the person to tell the patient.

I would argue that the process here is flawed. Did anyone stress-test the plan here? Doctors generally have no problem delivering bad news. They do it most days; it is part of the business. However, was it ever considered that a treating consultant, who sometimes has a very close relationship with a patient through cancer treatment, might not be the best person to tell the patient the bad news from maybe five or six years ago? Was that ever considered?