Patients lives are being put at risk as doctors play politics over money, the wife of a terminal cancer patient being treated by Dr. Jonathan Murray claimed yesterday.

Eugenie Simmons said she is worried sick that her husband, Edward, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1997, may well die if he loses his physician.

Dr. Murray was instructed to stop practising medicine on Friday after Labour Minister Terry Lister rejected an appeal of the Immigration decision not to renew his work permit.

But an agreement reached over the weekend between Mr. Lister and Dr. Bruce Lattyak - who held Dr. Murray's work permit until it was rejected - will allow a grace period for Dr. Murray to continue to see patients and wind down his practice.

The Royal Gazette was told, with three Bermudians on the Island trained in Dr. Murray's ear, nose and throat (ENT) speciality, there is no longer seems to be a need for expatriate workers in this category. And Bermudian ENT doctors were said to have contacted the Immigration department to make that point.

But Ms Simmons said Dr. Murray is the only ENT practising who has cancer expertise. "He is not just an ENT, he's an oncology ENT," she said. "Not anyone can cut around a cancer tumour."

Ms Simmons said the doctors seem to be prioritising money rather than their Hippocratic oaths.

Dr. Murray's treatment of her husband has been sterling, she said. And his reputation with key overseas hospitals such as Sloan-Kettering and Massachusetts General has also helped her husband's battle against the cancer. But the news that Dr. Murray will likely be forced to leave the Island has hit the cancer patient hard.

"ENT cancers tend to have lifestyle links for people with addictive personalities, to things like drinking and smoking," Ms Simmons said. "When he found out his doctor would no longer be able to treat him on Friday, he came home drunk for the first time in many, many years. This has really hit him hard."

Cancer patients will surely suffer as a result of Dr. Murray's practice ending, she said.

"This is not about widgets," Mrs. Simmons said. "It is about people's lives. When someone in your family has cancer, you want the best care possible and you do not care where it comes from."

Mrs. Simmons said, if other ENT doctors complained about Dr. Murray they are putting "profit over patient care" and that is unlikely to encourage patients to join their practices.

"They don't seem to have the mindset to take care of patients," she said. "We will take our money and go overseas."

Mrs. Simmons said she is fully confident that Dr. Murray can keep her husband alive, but does not believe ENTs without oncology training have the same expertise.

If the other doctors really want his practice, they should go out and get the training as well, she suggested, not try and have him ousted from the Island.

Mrs. Simmons said she has already approached Minister Lister with her fears and spoken to Immigration employees.

"Scores of people's lives are depending on this," she said. "My situation is grave. Some are less so but this is what we (patients and their families) look like. This is how it is affecting us. It doesn't affect Jonathan Murray. Jonathan Murray has made his money. He can work anywhere in the world. But we can't get the level of treatment needed here without him."

She added: "We need to remind doctors they are medical professionals not some cut throat retail business. They should stop behaving like ambulance chasers and put the patient first. Remember their Hippocratic oath - that's what it is all about."

Both Dr. Murray and Dr. Lattyak have said they are pursuing a number avenues in the hope of saving Dr. Murray's practice.