Medical negligence is a serious problem in Ireland. It needs to be treated in a serious manner.
In 2008 we posted some facts relating to such claims on our website. See the post HERE.
Not surprisingly, medical errors happen everywhere; they are not unique to Ireland. In the USA and the UK, the responsible authorities collect statistics to find out why those errors happen. Those statistics indicate the areas of risk where those errors occur.
Information like that is very valuable; it can result in precautions being taken to prevent such errors being repeated (if medical administrators are so minded).
In Ireland, the State Claims agency is responsible for defending claims made arising from such negligence, where the defendant is a State employee or is otherwise its responsibility.
It now appears, according to the Irish Times (HERE) that the State Claims Agency thinks medical negligence claims are rising in Ireland because patients need to generate new sources of income.
This is a repetition of the claim that Ireland has (or had) “a Compo culture”. The people who made that claim were either incompetent in their job or, simply, represented the unacceptable face of the insurance industry.