Medical Negligence Litigation in Ireland

This volume of articles is a collaborative work between students of the School of Law
of Trinity College Dublin and Senior Counsel who are members of the Inner Bar of
Ireland.

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The articles address the key areas of legal controversy that exist in the ongoing
defining of the parameters of medical negligence litigation in Ireland. Each article is
presented as a response to a specific question which defines the issue that is being
further clarified or has been recently resolved. These issues include:
• the revised definition of the standard of care in medical negligence litigation;
• the emerging understanding of a cause of action based upon informed
consent;
• the existence of a cause of action for nervous shock of a relative of someone
who has received negligent medical care;
• the existence of a cause of action for wrongful birth;
• the status of blind reviews, hindsight bias and intra-observer variability in the
analysis of evidence;
• the test for causation as a ‘but for’ test and/or one of ‘material contribution’;
• the effect of the resolution of a claim for damages upon a subsequent claim
by a statutory dependant, after the death of the original claimant
• the wider time limits for the institution of medical negligence proceedings;
• the tolerance of issuing proceedings but not serving them in medical
negligence litigation;
• the effects of the statutory duty of disclosure upon the defence of medical
negligence litigation;
• the implications of mediation for the defence of a medical negligence action;
• the constitutionality of the Personal Injuries Guidelines of the Judicial Council
in so far as they establish a statutory cap upon general damages;
This volume is also written as a festschrift in honour of Mr Justice Kevin Cross to
mark his unique contribution to the development of the law, together with his
facilitation of the hearing of cases, in this area for many years prior to his retirement
as a Judge of the High Court in 2021.