The State Claims Agency – the Government authority responsible for handling claims against the State – is forecasting a significant increase in claims for medical negligence compensation against the State´s doctors and hospitals.
The agency announced that it has already received 345 claims for medical negligence this year against the State and has forecast an increase of 27 percent over last year´s total of 542 claims – the highest number since the Clinical Indemnity Scheme was introduced in 2002.
Attributing the increase to the economic downturn, Ciaran Breen – director of the State Claims Agency – said “It appears that people, injured as a result of a medical negligence event, are more likely to sue doctors, dentists and hospitals in these more difficult economic times.” Mr Breen added that despite the pressure on hospital funding, hospital´s should prioritise the resourcing of clinical risk management.
The agency´s forecast is much higher than that predicted by the Injuries Board (4 percent) for non-medical negligence claims, but Mr Breen pointed specifically to the number of DePuy Hip Recall compensation claims that had been received and noted that compensation for obstetrics claims – where children have been injured at birth due to negligence – might wait several years before being made.
Zoe Richardson – one of the agency´s clinical claims managers – also pointed to claims for compensation which previously may have been time-barred being received. In July 2012, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court verdict in favour of Olivier Kearney who, as an eighteen-year-old woman, underwent an unnecessary symphysiotomy in 1969.
Claims for medical negligence against the State represent only a minority of claims handled by the State Claims Agency in terms of numbers – many more arise from employer liability and public liability – however, in terms of value, they account for almost 90 percent of compensation paid by the State. In 2011, the agency managed claims for medical negligence against the State amounting to 860 million Euros.