Steven Dominic Feenan
BMJ 2004; 328 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7439.587 (Published 04 March 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;328:587
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Dear Editor,
It saddened me to read the orbituary of Steven Dominic Feenan who was
an A&E Staff grade at Lister Hospital, Stevenage.
I remember him from my medical student attachment with the department
back in 1999. In the intimidating world of 'real doctoring' through the
eyes of a 2nd year clinical student, Steve was always a relief to
accompany, through his down-to-earth, enthusiastic and humourous
personality.
He was obviously a multi-talented person inside and outside the
clinical setting.
His death illustrates 2 important points about our doctoring culture.
First the difficulty in accessing help when you find yourself in the
depths of depression. The community is often too hard, and one feels that
'one is expected to just get on with it'. Scarily, one tends to do just
that, pushing away those emotions and getting on with the heavy workload
or submerging yourself in exam preparation.
The other problem in our doctoring world, is the difficulty in
combining career development with time and the opportunity to pursue
passions outside medicine. Time spent outside your chosen career path is
generally not looked upon favourably, although pursuit of a range of
interests can only lead to a fulfilled individual and a more enthusiastic
doctor.
I will always admire Steve as a role model in his doctoring, and for
chasing his passion in diving. I hope that the doctoring community can
change to prevent further loss of young lives to mental illness.
Sincerely,
Dr Anne Pang (MRCP)
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
The world is undoubtedly a darker place without the light that was
Steve "Sponge" Feenan.
Steve was a wonderful person, a great companion and a very great
friend and it was with much sadness that we said goodbye to Steve at his
funeral and wake last November. It was however extremely fitting that the
inherent sadness of the occasion should be interrupted by so many
outbursts of laughter as the massed ranks of family, friends and
colleagues shared their memories of a person who had brought his own brand
of fun into so many lives. As friends of Steve's from medical school we
knew Steve to be loyal, generous, fun-loving and much more intelligent
than the rest of us. We also knew he had little truck with the
establishment concept of a medical career. It was therefore a pleasure to
hear that Steve had obviously found his niche in A&E, and it was
evident from the eulogy of his consultant Peter Kelly and from the
comments made by so many of his colleagues that Steve had clearly matured
into the professional, compassionate and skillfull doctor that his natural
gifts had always destined him to be. There can be no higher professional
seal of approval than the fact that Steve's nursing colleagues would
advise their relatives to always ask for "Dr. Steve" if they were ever
brought into A&E.
It was both a pleasure and a privilege to know Steve Feenan. Steve's
light burned very very brightly but far too shortly. He will be
desperately missed by many many people. But Steve will never be forgotten.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I was saddened to hear about Steve's death. I'm sure along with all
at the Cross from 1988 to 1994 he will be missed. He was one of the first
people I remember seeing at Pembridge Gardens. He was always out going and
friendly to all. My condolences go to his family and close friends
Jonathan Garside
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Steven Dominic Feenan (Deceased)
I came across Dr Steven Feenan on the many occasions that I had to
attend A & E at High Wycombe General Hospital, in my role as a police
officer. That was in the mid 1990's.
I was very impressed by his ease of communication with the wide variety of
people and situations that we had to deal with in our different roles.
A & E is a dynamic hive of life/death and activity in the most extreme
and diverse situations. It doesn't surprise me, to learn that he continued
to develop his career within this setting.
Steve and I met through work and socially on many occasions. He had a big
personality and was unconventional and individual. I also thought he
would have benefited by working through a few problems that he had. At
the time he wasn't going to accept the help from me that I felt I wanted
to give.
We moved on in our different ways. He had talked about wanting to move to
New Zealand.
I became a therapist, which I hoped would be fulfilling and rewarding,
whilst nurturing an interest in health and medicine.
I was saddened and shocked to learn of his death. It clearly was hugely
traumatic and distressing for all those people in his life and the manner
in which he left it.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests