Healthcare Law

The Department of Health has been fined after unlawfully using private information about plaintiffs and their families in special educational needs litigation to decide whether to propose settlements. The Data Protection Commission (DPC) this week imposed a €22,500 fine on the Department after

Social care workers will become a regulated profession by November 2025, the government has confirmed following the signing into law of new legislation. The Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2023 amends the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, the Health and Social Care Professionals A

Healthcare lawyer Sinéad Corcoran has been appointed to the Medical Council for a five-year term. Ms Corcoran was appointed by health minister Stephen Donnelly to serve on the regulator until 31 May 2028 following her nomination by the Private Hospitals Association (PHA).

Solicitor Orla Crowe has joined the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) as its new director of fitness to practise. Ms Crowe is a solicitor with over 11 years of professional experience. She previously worked in the health and social care department of law firm ByrneWallace, where she spec

The Supreme Court has held that the HSE’s CEO was entitled to suspend a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist after he had performed experiments on several patients without their consent. The Court of Appeal had previously ruled the ongoing suspension to be unlawful, holding there was no e

Legislation providing for the mandatory open disclosure of serious patient safety incidents has completed all stages in the Houses of the Oireachtas. Once commenced, the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Bill 2019 will require a list of specific serious patient safety inciden

The High Court has dismissed a plaintiff’s medical negligence action against the HSE for alleged failures in diagnosing breast cancer. The plaintiff had originally felt two lumps in her breast but this was diagnosed as a simple cyst in May 2017. However, by October 2017, she maintained that th

Lawyers Dara Purcell, Aoife Kelly-Desmond, Peggy Hughes, Avril Sheridan and Caoimhe Gleeson have been appointed to five health and social care registration boards. Mr Purcell, a qualified solicitor and chartered secretary, has been appointed to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council until

Peter Dennehy BL has been appointed to the board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) for a three-year term. The IBTS is the statutory body with responsibility for the national blood supply. The IBTS also provides testing and tissue services to hospitals and is responsible for the Irish Unr

A new protocol governing the commissioning of medical reports by solicitors has been published by the Law Society of Ireland in response to recent judicial comments. The Law Society's litigation committee developed the protocol with reference to the decision of Mr Justice Cian Ferriter in McLaughlin

A new policy adopted by Northern Ireland's Department of Health sets out expectations for minimising the use of restrictive interventions, restraint and seclusion in health and social care settings. Former health minister Robin Swann approved the new policy on restrictive practices in health and soc

A redress scheme should be established for the families of children who were affected by in-utero exposure to the anti-epileptic drug sodium valproate (Epilim), a prominent solicitor has said. Michael Boylan, who secured a €15 million settlement for a 13-year-old boy earlier this month, told Th

Dr Mary Tumelty has been reappointed to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council within multi-profession health regulator CORU. Dr Tumelty is a law lecturer at University College Cork (UCC), where her research interests include medical law, patient safety and alternative dispute resolution.

A substantial HSE settlement for a woman whose baby was delivered stillborn highlights the "real and urgent need" for new legislation on mandatory disclosure, her lawyers have said. Homs Assist represented Rebecca Collins, a Co Clare woman who sued the HSE for allegations of medical negligence, a br

Belfast solicitor Alphonsus Maginness has been appointed to the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) for a four-year term. Mr Maginness has practised as a solicitor for over 30 years. In February 1998 he was appointed chief legal adviser in what is now the Business Services Organisati