Surgeons

Heart (1x2)

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This week's episode moves to Dublin's Mater Hospital and the pioneering cardiac surgeon Freddie Wood. He is joined by Mark Redmond of Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin. At the Mater, Jerry O'Leary from Cork has been waiting for a heart transplant for over nine months. He is kept alive on a machine while the search for a suitable donor heart continues. Late at night, the cardiac unit is told that a donor heart is on its way from another hospital - Freddie Wood must decide which of his patients will receive it. Nine year old Conor Murray from Co. Donegal was born with a faulty valve in his heart. Although he looks as healthy as his twin brother, Mark Redmond has to operate now or Conor will not survive into his teens. His anxious parents accompany Conor to the operation in Our Lady's. Freddie Wood discusses whether the popular image of surgeons as aloof and arrogant is deserved.