Bill aims to close insurance loophole

EFFORTS HAVE begun to close a legal loophole where doctors in private medicine are not obliged to have medical indemnity insurance.

Fine Gael has introduced legislation in the Dáil to make it a criminal offence for doctors practising in Ireland not to have such insurance.

The party’s health spokesman, Dr James Reilly, said his Bill “is for the good of patients but also for the good of doctors because the rogue doctors who do not have insurance are the ones likely to create mayhem, which eventually imposes a cost on everybody”.

Introducing the Medical Practitioners (Professional Indemnity) (Amendment) Bill, he noted that the Department of Health and the Medical Council “do not know how many practitioners have insurance, what level of cover they hold, the type of insurance they hold or who provides it”.

His party colleague, Cork TD Jim O’Keeffe, said lawyers must have liability insurance before they are registered. He was no longer a practising lawyer, “but I could not get a practising certificate without proving to the Law Society that I have liability insurance. If that is the case with lawyers, why should it be any different for a doctor going to the Irish Medical Council?”

Minister for Health Mary Harney said she agreed “fully with the objective behind this Bill. Patients need the assurance of the competence and professional insurance of their doctors. The question is how does one most effectively achieve such assurance.”

She deferred a second reading of the Bill until January and in the meantime, “I will ensure that the draft legislation receives full analysis and consideration from all the relevant policy and legal expertise available to me”.

Dr Reilly said the Bill seeks “to address ever increasing globalisation whereby doctors can visit private clinics, perform surgery and leave again. I do not denigrate such clinics. Their regulation is an issue, but the purpose of the Bill is to provide and absolute guarantee to the public that doctors practising in Ireland have adequate and appropriate insurance and indemnity.”

Cosmetic surgery has expanded dramatically in the past decade and “the absence of proper regulation in this area has meant that on occasion, under-qualified and untrained practitioners have been allowed to perform complicated cosmetic surgery procedures”, which put patients’ lives at risk.

He said: “Someone irresponsible could practise in Ireland without the appropriate medical negligence insurance and, in the case of negligent or unsatisfactory treatment, an aggrieved or injured patient may have no redress to compensation.

“The Bill is intended to apply to doctors who are not domiciled in Ireland but who often practise here in private clinics, as well as practitioners normally resident in Ireland.”

He wanted “to close a loophole that could allow an unscrupulous doctor to apply for medical registration and practise without insurance”.

While the Medical Council “states doctors must have adequate cover, there is no system of checking to make sure doctors have cover or adequate cover”.

He cited New Zealand’s no-fault insurance indemnity system as a preferred option. It “involves rapid settlement of claims with little involvement of lawyers and savings on legal costs”.

Medical costs in Ireland this year will be €60 million – €20 million of which will be for lawyers.

Labour health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said it was “important this piece of the jigsaw is in place” and expressed surprise that “no EU directive is in place in this area”.

Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said, “Most people would be very surprised that such legislation is not already in place”, and its absence was a “major flaw in our system”.