The Dublin Evening Mail, 7 June 1940 OBITUARIES
Mr. Laurence O'Shaughnessy
Mr. Laurence O'Shaughnessy the brilliant young surgeon, who derived from Kerry, has been killed in action.
His specialty was heart surgery.
Professor Saarbruck, Herr Hitler's doctor, assisted Mr. O'Shaughnessy, in his professional studies in Berlin.
This young surgeon was able to graft tissue rich in blood on the heart of a racing greyhound to increase it's power.
He hoped to achieve restorative surgery on human hearts, in time, but now his own is stilled
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The Sydney Post Record, Jun 5, 1940 OBITUARIES
Noted Surgeon
Killed In Action
LONDON, June 5 - Laurence O'Shaughnessy, noted Harley street heart surgeon, has been killed in action, it became known today.
He served with the Army Medical Corps.
O'Shaughnessy who specialized for years in heart ailments was credited with discoveries his colleagues called extremely important in his branch of surgery.
He perfected the treatment of grafting onto hearts of elderly persons tissue which strengthened them and gave them a longer life.
The treatment, once called "new hearts for the old" was developed through experiments conducted on racing greyhounds with "tired hearts."
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The Irish Times, Jun 6, 1940 OBITUARIES
Mr. Laurence O'Shaughnessy
Mr. Laurence O'Shaughnessy, who has been killed in action, was one of the most brilliant surgeons in Harley Street.
The moment war broke out he left his work to rejoin the Royal Army Medical Corps Territorials, in which he had been a Captain.
His wish was to be right at the front so that he might deal at first hand with war wounds in the chest.
A heart specialist to-day described Mr. O'Shaughnessy as a pioneer surgeon, an Irishman quick and determined.
He was a scholar who, strangely enough, had considerable knowledge of the German school of surgery," said this specialist, and whose spiritual master was Professor Saarbruck, Hitler's doctor."
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The Times Weekly Edit, Jun 12, 1940 OBITUARIES
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Major Laurence O'Shaughnessy, M.D., F.R.C.S., R.A.M.C., who fell in Flanders, was one of the more eminant younger surgeons of the chest and heart.
In the years 1933-35, he was Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, and in 1937 he won the Hunter Medal Triennial Prize for research work in surgery of the thorax.
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The Irish Independent, Jun 6, 1940 OBITUARIES
DISTINGUISHED IRISH SURGEON
Mr. Laurence O'Shaughnessy, The young Irish surgeon who has been killed in Flanders, had attained a reason of his distinguished achievements, a foremost place in his profession, and had shown promise in further advancing his reputation.
Son of the late Mr. Laurence O'Shaughnessy, a native of Cahirciveen, who was a civil servant in this country, he was a nephew of the late Mr. Edward O'Shaughnessy, the predecessor as London editor of the Irish Independent.
He is a cousin of Mrs. F. J. Cronin, whose husband is a member of the editorial staff in London of the Independent Newspapers.
Mr. O'Shaughnessy some years ago gave an interesting account to a gathering of doctors and specialists at the Royal College of Surgeons under the chairmanship of Lord Dawson of Penn, of an operation which, it is claimed, rejuvenates old hearts.
Sufferers from agiopectoris and coronary thrombosis and understood to have derived benefits from the operation.
Surgery of the thorax
Mr. O'Shaughnessy was soon afterwards awarded by the Council of The Royal College of Surgeons the John Hunter Medal and Triennial Prize for his research work on the surgery of the thorax.
He continued his clinical and experimental work in the surgery of the heart, as was recorded in the report of the Medical Research Council for 1937-38.
For this, he received personal and expence grants from a bequest from the estate of the late Sir Horace Plunkett, with which the Council were intrusted by Mr. Gerald Head.
At the Lambeth Cardiovascular Clinic of the London County Council, Mr. O'Shaughnessy performed in a further series of operations designed to improve the blood supply of the heart.
The results in the first twenty cases so treated showed that in this group there was only one death from heart failure, and patients who survived the operation for one and, in some cases, two years continued to be active.
Mr. O'Shaughnessy, who won several scholarships in this country, also pursued his professional studies in Berlin.
He worked under Herr Hitler's doctor, Professor Saarbruck.
The Professor used to come to London to discuss heart surgery with Mr. O'Shaughnessy.
Curing Greyhounds
The young surgeon experimented on racing greyhounds suffering from strained hearts.
He grafted on to the heart a fatty tissue from the abdomen rich in blood vessels, as a result of which it was said the dogs could run faster than before.
When the war broke out Mr. O'Shaughnessy requested to be enabled to go as near to the front as he could to treat soldiers with chest wounds.
He was convinced he could save more lives if he were near the fighting than if he were at a base hospital.
In acting on this belief he lost his own life.
A heart specialist who knew Mr. O'Shaughnessy well said yesterday his work on shock from war wounds was a classic.
Mr. O'Shaughnessy was the husband of Dr. Gwen O'Shaughnessy of Greenwich, S.E.
Mr. O'Shaughnessy's aunt is Mrs. Thomas O'Donoghue, of Morden.
She and her husband are natives of Cahirciveen.
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