The colourful life of Ireland's first vasectomy specialist who was shot by a disgruntled former patient

"The recent death of Mary "May" McGee, the brave woman who took the landmark 1973 case on access to contraception in Ireland, was in the forefront of my mind for several days. Any woman who is popping her daily contraceptive pill or buying condoms without a second thought owes her a great debt. Men who have undergone vasectomies may not necessarily know to whom they owe their great debt, as such."

"but it is being shot at in his surgery by a disgruntled ex-patient whose wife had left him that really raises your eyebrows. Six shots later and a bullet lodged in his hip, it is hard to know who to sympathise with more - Rynne, who brushes off the incident with what one imagines is his natural stoicism, or the poor patient who was mid-snip. The bullet removed, he keeps it in a plastic envelope in his bedside drawer for years."

The recent death of Mary "May" McGee prompted reflection on the impact of the 1973 contraception case for access to contraception in Ireland. Women using daily contraceptives or condoms owe a debt to that landmark action, and men who have had vasectomies may also owe a debt. Dr Andrew Rynne performed approximately 35,000 vasectomies and helped introduce vasectomy to Ireland. He was fined for selling condoms. He sang with Luke Kelly and Christy Moore and founded Clane General Hospital. He survived being shot in his surgery by a disgruntled ex-patient, suffered a bullet lodged in his hip that was later removed and kept.

Read at Independent