Healthcare Law

The High Court has upheld a decision of the Medical Council refusing registration of a doctor who had been struck off the register of doctors in the UK. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Mr Justice Micheál P. O’Higgins considered: “The court’s task in this appeal is to

The High Court has accepted an undertaking on behalf of the CEO of the Mater hospital on foot of the hospital’s breach of court orders detaining a woman suffering with an eating disorder. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Mr Justice David Nolan emphasised: “The purpose of this judg

Northern Ireland's health minister has launched a public consultation on the establishment of a statutory duty of candour in Northern Ireland. The consultation comes more than half a decade after such a move was recommended by the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia Related Deaths (IHRD) led by Mr Justice O'

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal of a woman who claimed that she was required to undergo more extensive treatment than she otherwise would have required had her breast cancer been detected earlier by doctors at Letterkenny Hospital. Delivering the lead judgment for the Court of Appeal, M

Northern Ireland’s High Court has awarded £50,000 in damages against the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and a consultant neurologist who negligently performed an unnecessary medical procedure. Delivering judgment for the High Court, Mr Justice Adrian Colton highlighted that “

Doctors are now under a legal duty to disclose serious patient safety incidents following the commencement of new legislation. The Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 provides a legislative framework for a number of important patient safety issues, including the mandat

Legislation providing for the mandatory open disclosure of serious patient safety incidents is to be commenced in the coming days. The Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 was signed into law by the President last year, and a number of preparatory steps required to enab

Northern Ireland is to make the biggest changes to its its public health legislative framework in nearly six decades. The Department of Health has launched a consultation asking for views on new health protection measures being implemented through a Public Health Bill to replace the current Public H

Bríd O’Flaherty BL has been appointed to chair the non-statutory inquiry into the historical licensing and use of the anti-epileptic drug sodium valproate (Epilim) in women of child-bearing potential in the State. While sodium valproate is an effective and essential treatment for some p

The family of a woman who died from breast cancer after a delayed diagnosis have received a substantial settlement and a public apology from the HSE. Lynn Rocke passed away of metastatic breast carcinoma on 16 March 2020, having been diagnosed in March 2018.

Carson McDowell associate Genevieve Brindley highlights a UK judgment on psychiatric illness negligently caused to 'secondary victims' and considers the possible implications in Ireland. In a recent decision relating to three cases — Paul v Wolverhamptom NHS Trust, Polmear and another v R

Doctors and patients are suffering mental harm as a result of Ireland's slow and expensive litigation process, the Medical Protection Society (MPS) has said. A new MPS report states that a clinical negligence claim in Ireland takes an average of 1,462 days to resolve, 14 per cent longer than in Sout

The Court of Appeal has upheld the dismissal of a clinical negligence claim in circumstances where no expert report had been obtained by the plaintiff’s solicitors almost eight years after the proceedings had issued. Delivering judgment for the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan denounc

Karen Kearney, partner at Cantillons Solicitors, comments on the coming investigation into Aoife Johnston's death at University Hospital Limerick. I listened with interest to an interview on Morning Ireland on 5 January 2024 with Stephen Donnelly, our minister for health. He was asked by Rachel Engl

Northern Ireland barrister James Stitt examines a Scottish case with significance for clinical negligence practitioners. Once more, a Scottish case has provided an opportunity for a substantial development of the law in the field of clinical negligence.