Susie Long (1966 – 2007): She struck a blow against the privatisation of healthcare

The recent untimely death of Susie Long was widely covered in the media in the South. Susie made a powerful impression in January of this year when she spoke on RTE radio of how she had developed terminal cancer of the colon. It was a tragic and shocking story.

By Joe Higgins

Using the pseudonym, "Rosie", as her 13 year old son, Fergus, didn't yet know the awful reality, Susie Long explained how she had been referred for a scan by her local doctor in the summer of 2005 but being a public patient was on a waiting list until the end of February 2006.

The scan showed she had cancer. Worse it had spread to the lungs. And criminally this had very likely happened while she was on the waiting list.

During her twelfth chemotherapy session, Susie heard of a fellow patient whose chance of recovery was far better than hers because he had his scan done three days after seeing his doctor. He had private insurance. When she went home that evening and saw a Department of Health TV advertisement warning that bowel cancer can kill but not if it is caught in time, she was so angry she decided to speak out.

I didn't hear "Rosie" on the Liveline programme but was alerted to her contribution by an email to my Dail office. It was from her husband, Conor MacLiam, whom I had known for a long time. He told me that 'Rosie' was really Susie whom I had also known and attached the email which she had originally sent to RTE outlining her story.

In the early 1980s Conor was a member of Militant, the forerunner of the Socialist Party and made a major contribution in producing our political material. Having arrived from the United States at 17 years of age and after meeting Conor, Susie also became a member of Militant. They later moved to Kilkenny where they brought up their two children, Aine and Fergus.

Susie's story graphically brought home the reality of the two tier health system in this State and shocked and angered decent people up and down the country. I got the ready agreement of the Independent TDs in the Dail Technical Group to tackle the Government over cancer services in our three hours private members time debate due a few weeks after the programme.

Our motion noted “with alarm the recently highlighted situation of a Kilkenny mother, ‘Rosie’, who, being a public patient, had to wait eight months for a colonoscopy with the most serious and tragic consequences for her health and life”, and called for “the scrapping of the Government bias toward privatisation of health care” and for a “fully resourced public health service with immediate access to services by all, based on medical needs”.

On my invitation Susie followed the debate from the Dail public gallery accompanied by Fergus. It wasn't easy for her listening to Minister for Health Harney giving the government line on the health service. She was, however, very pleased when Harney was forced to announce during the debate that in the case of her local hospital, St. Luke's Kilkenny, “The HSE has made available capital funding of €300,000 to build a new modular endoscopy unit at the hospital.” Susie was invited to be the keynote speaker when the sod was turned for that project in May. She invited me down for the ceremony but unfortunately it was in the middle of the general election campaign and I was very sorry I couldn't go.

That investment in St. Luke's has since been boosted to a 24 bed day care unit. All this was prioritised and extended in scope as a result of Susie's campaign since January. It will be an enduring tribute to her memory.

Susie was caught in a difficult economic situation like many working people. As she said, “Despite one and a half incomes we couldn't afford VHI or BUPA”. Then, showing her commitment to equality and justice for all in the health service, she continued, “But even if we could have we wouldn't have gotten it because we believed that all people should get good care despite their incomes. We thought queue jumping was wrong. We're socialists…”.

Our solidarity and support goes out to Conor, Aine and Fergus in this most difficult time. We feel sure that their deep sorrow and justified anger at the untimely and avoidable death of their beloved partner and mother will be assuaged by the realisation that she struck a blow against the privatisation of health care in this State and turned a grievous injustice to herself to the benefit of countless others in the future.