Healthcare Law

The Health Service Executive, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, and Medlab Pathology Limited have lost a Supreme Court appeal against a High Court judgment in favour of Ruth Morrissey arising from the misreading of her cervical smear tests. Mrs Morrissey was not told until 2018 that a review carried o

A dispute arising out of the departure of well-known solicitors from a prominent law firm in 2018 has returned before the High Court. Augustus Cullen Law and Cullen Solicitors Services Limited had brought High Court proceedings against parties including Michael Boylan, Gillian O'Connor and their fir

NHS England is facing a legal bill of £4.3 billion to settle its outstanding medical negligence claims, according to new figures. Figures released to the BBC under Freedom of Information legislation show that the health service expects to have to pay a large sum to lawyers in order to settle a

Claimant and defendant lawyers from across Ireland and Northern Ireland recently met in Dublin develop their understanding of the law on Acquired Brain Injury (ABI).

Dr Rob Hendry, medical director of the Medical Protection Society (MPS), sets out the medical profession's perspective on Mr Justice Charles Meenan's expert group on tort reform and the management of clinical negligence claims. In 2018 the State Claims Agency paid out nearly €270 million i

Proposed legislation providing for mandatory open disclosure of serious patient safety incidents has been published by Health Minister Simon Harris. The Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 specifies a list of patient safety incidents which will be subject to mandatory open

The barriers to open disclosure must be addressed if an open culture in healthcare is to be achieved, according to a medical protection organisation. The call from the Medical Protection Society (MPS) comes as the Patient Safety Bill 2018, which provides for open disclosure, continues to receive leg

A landmark case brought against three NHS trusts by a woman who was not told during her pregnancy that her father has Huntington's disease has begun in the High Court in London. The claimant, known only as "ABC", said she would have had an abortion if she knew at the time that her father has the con

Over €18 million was paid out by the State Claims Agency (SCA) in legal costs to 10 law firms involved in medical negligence cases last year. Augustus Cullen Law Solicitors was paid nearly €6.8 million after representing plaintiffs in 46 claims last year.

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