The Wrong Road Home

By Ian O'Connor

The Wrong Road Home is the larger-than-life story of a surgeon who successfully practiced his craft for 20 years—first in Ireland and then the United States—girded with nothing more than several counterfeit medical diplomas. Impossible, would undoubtedly be any reader’s initial reaction—and understandably so—but the tale is based on a Miami Herald Sunday Edition front page exposé that was the talk of South Florida two decades ago. Oprah’s producer pursued the imposter to appear on her show, as did Bill O’Reilly, then the host of Inside Edition.

The Wrong Road Home combines two cautionary tales. The first warns how a Faustian bargain once struck, allows for no turning back. Desmond Donahue's impossible dream of becoming a ‘doctor’ was indeed realized over time, and a ‘doctor’ he remained despite several close calls in the ensuing years. The second cautionary message details the terrible cost in human terms of a life lived alone: of having to forgo marriage and children, of never having a close friend, of having to keep everyone ever met at arm’s length so the day would never arrive where he would inadvertently expose the awful truth about himself.