Dermod MacCarthy

Dermod MacCarthy
Born	(1901-10-09)9 October 1901 Bournemouth, England
Died	15 March 1986(1986-03-15) (aged 75)
Nationality	British
Alma mater	St Bartholomew's Hospital
Scientific career
Fields	St Bartholomew's Hospital Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Dermod De La Chevallerie MacCarthy (15 March 1911 – 12 July 1986) MD, MRCP, FRCP was a British born paediatrician. He was notable for establishing a paediatric unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and conducting research into common disturbances in childhood and growth in deprived children. He was most notable, and what made him famous, was his efforts to encourage mothers to be with their children in hospital.

Life

MacCarthy was the son of Sir Desmond MacCarthy who was the foremost literary and dramatic critic of his day. His mother Mollie Warre Cornish was the daughter of the vice-provost of Eton College. An author in her own right, Cornish wrote A Nineteenth-century childhood in 1924. Both were famous in here own right. MacCarthy was educated in Gresham's School and upon finishing his education started his medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital where he qualified in 1934. MacCarthy took up a number of positions in medicine, before becoming a Ship's doctor on a ship, travelling to the Far East.

In 1947, he had married Marie-France Geoffroy-Dechaume. During World War II, Geoffroy-Dechaume worked in the French Resistance and was awardd the Croix-de-Guerre for heroism involving combat with the enemy. They had know each other since childhood, but it wasn't until MacCarthy has reached his mid 30's that romance blossomed.

Career

With World War II approaching MacCarthy had already decided to specialise and become a paediatrician, and by the start of the war was working in Great Ormond Street Hospital. Becoming a Resident at the beginning the war and the start of The Blitz, found some of his earliest duties including organizing the evacuation of children from the hospital to outlying and countryside hospitals. In 1942, he joined the Royal Naval Reserve and served as a surgeon, with the rank of Lieutenant, a position MacCarthy held until 1946.

At the beginning of the National Health Service in 1948, the idea of Pediatrics, as a profession was still very new. Indeed, the word itself was barely known, and hardly in use, outside the medical community in the United Kingdom. During that period, at the end of 1940s, paediatrician's during that period were establishing children's units across the country. MacCarthy was selected to establish a series of children's wards, working initially in Aylesbury and then putting in units across the whole of Buckinghamshire, a task that MacCarthy worked on until 1976.

It was the 1950s, when MacCarthy's main contribution to paediatrics was made, when a movement arose, to enable parents to visit their children in hospital, when they were convalescing. This movement arose due to a paper written by the paediatrician, James Spence called The Case of Children in Hospital where Spence argued that the parent would nurse and feel responsible for the child patients discovery. Prior to the movement, visiting by parents was usually restricted and sometimes forbidden in certain hospitals. MacCarthy helped facilitate the movement by making an influential film with James Robertson, the second in the series, called, Going to hospital with mother The film was filmed in the children's ward of Amersham Hospital. MacCarthy later worked as an advisor to the newly established National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital. The paper written by Spence, and work done by MacCarthy and others, led to the creation of the Platt Report, which ultimately recognized that:

Parents should be allowed to visit whenever they can, and to help as much as possible with the care of the child

In 1974, he became president of the paediatric section of the Royal Society of Medicine, whilst also consulting as paediatrician to the Institute of Child Psychology in London. During 1975, he was elected president of the Confederation of European Societies of Paediatricians.

Bibliography

• Sailing with Mr. Belloc by Dermod MacCarthy., Collins Harvill, 1987. London
• First baby by Dermod MacCarthy; British Medical Association, 1960-1965. London
• The emotional well-being of children aged 0-5 years in hospital by Dermod MacCarthy; National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital. 1989
• The under fives in hospital : a report on their emotional well-being by Dermod MacCarthy; Australian Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital., Westmead, N.S.W. 1979