LIMERICK has always been a pioneer in medicine, with modernisers such as Dr Sylvester O’Halloran heralded for his work on the brain and eyes, and Dr William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, whose medical research led to the development of intravenous therapy and introduced the therapeutic use of cannabis to Western medicine. With innovators such as Dr Samuel Crump, whose dissertation in 1788 argued that scurvy could be cured by good diet, and Sister Anthony (Mary O’Connell), who established a system of triage during the American Civil War that is still used today by the US army.
Also in the United States was Dr William Francis Sheehan, who oversaw sanitation reform in Rochester, New York, leading to the saving of countless lives.
Sheehan was born in County Limerick on February 11, 1855, to Patrick Sheehan and Bridget Casey, and baptised that same day in Castleconnell.
He moved to America in 1874 and immediately began studying medicine with his maternal uncle Dr J W Casey. He received his medical degree from Buffalo Medical College in 1877, quickly becoming a member of the Munroe County Medical Society. He was also associated with the Medical Association of Central New York, the American Medical Association, and the New York State Medical Society.
In 1877, he became a member of the Rochester Pathological Society, eventually becoming president of the society. Continuing his rise, he became city coroner in 1880, and health officer to the city two years later.
Throughout this time, Sheehan was publishing medical papers on subjects such as fractures, club feet, chicken-pox, and diphtheria. He received the Rochester Prize and Moore Prize for his essays on medical topics.
Some of his most important publications included those on house sanitation, school hygiene, and “Filth as a Cause of Disease”. He published articles in the press to reduce the outbreak of cholera in the city and initiated a program to take sick children from the smoggy city to a hospital by the lake shore to aid in their recovery.
Not satisfied working as a medical practitioner, researching and writing medical papers, Sheehan also gave a series of exhaustive lectures on anatomy
In his personal life, he married Katie L Kramer, daughter of Matias Kramer of Rochester, in 1880. His first son Mathias died at birth in 1882, which probably weighed on his head in the future. His second son William Gerard was born two years later. He was a member of St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, although his religious affiliation did not impact his practice. He was politically a Democrat and was president of the Young Men’s Independent Democratic Club.
On the morning of July 22, 1884, he was called to the house of a woman in labour. It was a long day for all involved, with the birth taking place at nine in the evening with the aid of a forceps. As he stood to leave the house, he complained of an intense pain in his head and soon fell unconscious. Despite medical aid, he died within a few hours from a ruptured blood vessel. He was 29 years old.
His death sent a shock wave throughout the city, as he left behind a widow and his 10 week old son, and both his parents still living in Limerick.
Letters of commiseration were sent from the Alumni Association of the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo; while Albert L Gihon, medical director of the United States Navy and president of the American Public Health Association, spoke of Sheehan on October 14, 1884, during the opening address of the twelfth annual session of the American Public Health Association.
Gihon stated: “On the 22 of July, he had written to me, in his accustomed happy vein, discussing the business of the session, and jocosely questioning wherein he might participate. The same envelope contained a note from his friend, Dr Herriman, advising me of his death soon after his letter had been penned, and before it could be posted.”
His funeral took place at St Patrick’s Cathedral, with every seat in the building filled. Large complex flower arrangements adorned the space, with a heart-shaped floral cluster in the centre bearing a card which read “For Papa; yours now and forever; Baby Sheehan.”
As the cortege left the cathedral, the choir led by Mrs P McMahon sang Jesus Lover of my Soul. His final resting place was the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
In 1889, his widow Katie remarried and had five more children with her new husband, Minorris Beebe Sheldon. Sheehan’s infant son William did not follow his father into medicine instead, going into business. William’s son, also called William, lived until 1999.