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MMC expresses grief over loss of airplane crash victims
At a press conference on Thursday, Stephenson, who is Administrator and CEO of Murphy Medical Center, where both doctors were employed said, "We mourn their loss, They were just like family. We are experiencing a void in our hearts." Dr. Damien O'Neill, who died in the crash, was an emergency room doctor, the director of Emergency Management Care and had been heavily involved in Emergency Preparedness Planning.. He had been on the hospital staff since 1998. Stephenson said, "Over the years he had a very positive response from his patients. There had been very few complaints." Dr. Henry Meinecke, the hospital's chief surgeon said of O'Neill, "He was the cheerleader of the Emergency Room. He found ways to cheer folks up. He was an emotional leader."
"He told me the last thing he remembered was taking off from the Orlando A i r p o r t , " Meinecke said, adding that it is not uncommon for someone involved in a major physiological trauma to have "retrograde amnesia". "His memory or partial memory could come back with time," Meinecke said. M e i n e c k e said, Dr. Opoliner had sustained burns on about 25 percent of his body and that he had been moved from Erlanger to Brook Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas , which is a major burn center in the U.S. Meinecke guessed Opoliner would receive treatment there for about two to three months and that the treatment would require skin grafts from other parts of his body.
Stephenson said Dr. Opoliner was a retired U.S. Navy surgeon whose last duty station was Bethesda, Maryland., where he was on the teaching staff. He had spent time in Iraq. He had been on the Murphy Medical Center staff for the past three years. Meinecke said the hospital had three surgeons on staff and that Opoliner's patients would be transferred to the care of Dr. Doan or himself,or they might choose to be transferred to another doctor at another hospital. A third person, Physician's Assistant Allen Martin, was also killed in the crash. Martin, a resident of Macon County, NC, was not an employee of Murphy Medical Center. The crash occurred early Monday Morning, last week on April 9 at the Andrews/Murphy Airport. The plane was a single engine Piper Lance, which was apparently trying to land at the airport but clipped power lines and skidded across Airport Road about 400 to 500 feet north of the Western end of the airport runway. The crash was reported to have occurred just after midnight when it burst into flames. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the accident and it may be months before the investigation into what may have caused the crash is completed.
Stephenson said the hospital is planning a private memorial service for hospital family members of Dr. O'Neill and on Tuesday, April 24. Starting Wednesday, April 25th through April 30th, the public is invited to share thoughts and in writing. A notebook will available in the main lobby at Murphy Medical Center, and will be presented to the family at a later date.
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