"Top" psychiatrist died just before trial for multiple sexual assaults

December 3, 2011

A so-called top psychiatrist made life hell for an unknown number of women attending Belmont Park Hospital (Ireland) as he used his position to abuse them from the 1970s up until the 1990s.

Despite numerous complaints, allegations of abuse were brushed under the carpet with the man responsible, Dr. Denis Lane O’Kelly, who promoted himself as an expert on alcoholism and sexual abuse, viewed as a high standing member of society. But behind walls this beast was telling patients, many in a vulnerable state of mind, to strip naked before carrying out internal examinations.

The Brother of Charity Service has now described the revelations as “disturbing and shocking” but said those who were informed of the abuse were now either deceased, retired or can’t recollect any allegations of abuse being made.

 A helpline has been set up to help victims of the abuse deal with the scars that have haunted them for years. Lane-O'Kelly died in 2002, just two week before he was due to stand trial, charged with multiple counts of indecent assault, leaving them without any acknowledgment of the acts he had committed.

Source: Mary Ellen Breen, "Abuse hell at hands of psychiatrist," Waterford News and Star, September 22, 2011.