Injuries Board
Personal Injury- Time is running
The time within which proceedings for compensation for personal injury must be issued, at risk of being barred under the Statute of Limitations 1957 (as amended), was shortened to two years by the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004. This provision came into effect on 31st March 2005. Thus, prima facie, such actions must be issued before 31st March 2007 (or lodged and registered with the Personal Injuries Assessment Board), failing which they may be dismissed without a hearing on […]
Personal Injury – Hearing Loss Claims * for Noise
The suppression of noise does not seem to be high on the agenda of modern industrial machinery designers. Unfortunately, worker victims of the noise find it all too easy to suffer easily-perceptible permanent hearing loss as a consequence. That is, irreversible damage can occur without the victim being aware of it. Dangerous noise can be sudden or prolonged. We have all found ourselves temporarily deafened by noise. Human hearing can deal with many such instances, if they are infrequent. Admittedly, […]
Personal Injury – Repetitive Strain Injury
REPETITIVE STRAIN INJURY See HERE for the Employer’s duties. At least 120 people of a staff of 340 in the Financial Times reported possible Repetitive Strain Injury symptoms Over a two and a half year period. The injury is one of the most common of those listed in the reports of the Health and Safety Authority . The UK experience confirms this too. The condition is also sometimes referred to as Occupation Overuse Syndrome. It involves inflammation of the muscles, […]
Personal Injury – Employers’ Duties
Occupational Health and Safety An employer owes duties to employees under Common Law and statute. The common law duties have been developed by the courts as they decide cases on accidents at work. The employer’s Common Law duties are: a) To provide a safe place of work b) To provide proper tools and equipment c) To provide a safe system of working d) To provide competent staff In addition an employer owes duties under statute to safeguard employees in the […]
MDU – More revelations
We have written elsewhere about the Medical Defence Union and the cover it may or may not give to a member in the event of a judgment against the member for professional negligence. It appears in Australia, a professional is obliged to insure him or herself (ie, membership of something like MDU is not sufficient). Furthermore, MDU is in a postion to offer insurance. In such a case it will be unable to deny indemnity on the basis of the […]
Medical Negligence – Obstetrics
The practice of obstetrics is somewhat different to other medical specialities in that the “patients”, the mother and baby, are healthy when they come under the care of the specialist. (This may not be strictly accurate; it is estimated that about 1% of babies have some form of defect). Nevertheless, the specialist is answerable for any error of medical management in the care of one or both of the patients. See here. There is a strong body of opinion that […]
Personal Injury Claims – Part 1
What do people mean when they refer to âPersonal Injuryâ? claims? It is, firstly and obviously, a reference to the consequences of an event; somebody has been injured. In addition, following the injury there is an allegation that somebody else has caused the injury and is answerable in law for that. Its current major significance is the consideration of the claim as an administrative problem. It also expresses a particular view of the âproblemâ?; administratively, the problem could be the […]
Cleanliness & Godliness
The Mater Hospital in Dublin is one of the cityâs major hospitals. It is the designated site for the new âworld classâ? childrenâs hospital [and an adult hospital adjoining]. It has apologised to a former patient who stayed in the hospital last May. It apologised for âany incidents of sub-standard hygieneâ? she may have experienced. Her experience was: a) The hospital was filthy; b) There was urine on the floor of the toilets; c) Excrement was stuck to the sides […]
Wringing and Washing of hands
The Minister for Health and Children is anxious that the Health Executive should achieve a reduction in nosocomial infections in Irish hospitals in the immediate future. The principle infection in mind (although not the most difficult) is MRSA. What’s the solution? Hand washing. (Hygiene actually). The methods of ensuring compliance with hand washing protocols will probably vary from place to place but the job is not impossible. In any event, employees of hospitals are entitled in law to safe places […]
The Children’s Hospital
Crumlin Childrenâs Hospital has declined to transfer to the proposed site for the new âworld classâ? childrenâs hospital at the Mater Hospital on the North Circular Road in Dublin 7. The reason for this refusal is that the site is inadequate for the project. If the site is inadequate, there will be deficiencies in the infrastructure for the new hospital. Without proper infrastructure (assuming the staff continue working in such circumstances) the task of delivering proper care to the patients […]