Doctors to be obliged by law to tell patients of errors

Doctors and health professionalswill in future be obliged by law to tell patients where mistakes or accidentstake place in their treatment, the Oireachtas committeeon health and childrenhas heard.

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said it was the equivalent of a motoring “hit and run” for doctors and health professionals to fail to make such disclosures and to live up to their duty of candour.

“I find that [behaviour] really appalling and it is not the type of medicine I was trained in.”

Mr Varadkar told the committee if doctors did adhere to their duty of candour and open disclosure and informed patients when adverse clinical outcomes had occurred, “ a lot fewer people would sue”.

The Minister said he now intended to legislate to make open disclosure a legal requirement.

Earlier, he told the committee the health service clearly has insufficient funding to address all areas of concern immediately.  Addressing the committee regarding spending for this year, he said the budget available would allow for a start to stabilising health service funding.

He claimed the health service was now in a more stable financial position than it had been for many years.

There was “undoubtedly a strong case for increased health funding in the years ahead”, he said.  However, increased spending without reform would not resolve the difficulties which the health service faced.

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