Healthcare Law

The Minister for Health has lost his application to have proceedings challenging proposed new pharmacy rules split into two separate hearings. Refusing the application, Mr Justice Anthony Barr said splitting the trial was likely to raise the overall costs of the action and that it important not to d

A one-day seminar on the legal and medical impact of birth injuries hosted by Augustus Cullen Law will raise funds for the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation. The medical negligence seminar, taking place in Dublin this December, will address topics including period payment orders versus lump sum pa

Draft legislation to extend the European health insurance card to all residents of Northern Ireland has been announced by the Government. Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said legislation would be in place by the end of October, when the UK is currently planning to leave

Pat Daly, partner at Cantillons Solicitors in Cork, writes on settlements without admission of liability in medical negligence cases. As a solicitor who has specialised in medical negligence cases for almost 30 years, I am calling for the farcical practice of settling cases “without admission

A man who complained that the medical expert fees included in the bill of costs of the hospital and consultant in his medical negligence claim were so unusually high as to indicate a conflict of interest has lost his appeal to the Supreme Court. Although commenting that the fact that the fees were n

A hospital has lost an appeal against the finding that the two-year limitation period for issuing personal injury proceedings began when the plaintiff received a doctor’s medical report based on hospital records – not when he was informed in the weeks after his surgery that he had contra

Legislation to implement the recommendations of High Court judge Mr Justice Charles Meenan on alternatives to court for claims arising from the CervicalCheck scandal has taken a major step forward. The Department of Health has published the General Scheme of the CervicalCheck Tribunal Bill 2019, whi

Ms Justice Bronagh O'Hanlon is set to join a range of speakers at a charity CPD event raising money for Nurture Health. The "Exit Wounds" conference, organised by barrister Doireann O'Mahony, will hear from a range of medical experts on maternal urological injuries and anal sphincter injuries in chi

The Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly has published a special issue on health law, edited by the directors of the Centre for Health, Law and Society (CHLS) at the University of Bristol Law School. The special edition, Reviewing the boundaries of health law - new directions and dimensions, includes ar

An expert group chaired by Mr Justice Charles Meenan has said it will explore the possible establishment of a Medical Injuries Assessment Board along the lines of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. The idea is raised in the interim report of the group set up to review the law of torts from the

The Medical Council has lost an application to have an application under section 76 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 heard in camera. Emphasising the importance in having an open hearing, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, President of the High Court said that he would direct that the s.76 hearing proceed

Litigation experts at Comyn Kelleher Tobin (CKT) delivered a workshop to the State Claims Agency this week on imminent changes in healthcare law, including pre-action protocols in clinical negligence actions, open disclosure and the Patient Safety Bill. Partners Yvonne Joyce and Alison Kelleher spok

A senior High Court judge has warned that there are "not enough judges" to hear cases brought by women affected by mistakes in cervical cancer screening. Mr Justice Kevin Cross made the remarks during proceedings brought by Ruth Morrissey against the HSE and two US-based laboratories involved in cer

The Law Society of Ireland has instructed solicitors to remove references to the CervicalCheck scandal from their online posts, The Times reports. John Elliot, director of regulation, said the Law Society had recently met to discuss whether firms were breaching strict advertising rules by highlighti

Máiréad Enright, senior lecturer at Birmingham Law School and co-director of the Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments Project, sets out options for reform. The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 (HRPTA) makes no provision for exclusion zones to prevent protests at lo