Obituaries Australia

Kevin O'Doherty, n.d.

State Library of Queensland, 108323

By the death of Dr. Kevin Izod O'Doherty we have lost one of the pioneers of the medical profession in Queensland. Having obtained the degrees of F.R.C.S.I. in 1857, and L.K.Q.C.P.I. in 1859, he registered the fourteenth name on the Queensland Register on March 3rd, 1862. In his prime he was known as a dashing and original surgeon, and used to get good results from at least two operations which he claimed as his own but never published. One of these was the removal of the head of the femur in intra-capsular fractures in order to improve the usefulness of the limb; the other a method of exploring the back of the ankle-joint, by incising behind the malleoli, somewhat as in Syme's operation, sawing obliquely through the os calcis just in front of the insertion of the tendo achilles, and lifting up the flap so formed. He had some success, too, in ovariotomy, as many as thirty years ago. Personally, he was a warm-hearted, generous, impulsive Irishman, most popular among his professional brethren, and a favourite in every class of society. Politically, he represented Queensland both in the Lower and the Upper House, and in 1885-86, during a visit home, he was member for Meath in the House of Commons. For the last ten years he did little in the practice of his profession, and has lately lived in retirement in one of the suburbs of Brisbane.