MORE THAN €11 million was paid out in compensation last year by the State Claims Agency in settlement of medical negligence cases, new figures show.
Half the money went in settlement of claims brought against hospitals for alleged negligence during surgery, a quarter were payouts in respect of obstetrics cases, such as children born with cerebral palsy, and the remainder were in respect of alleged negligence in AE, and the specialities of radiology, mental health, anaesthesia and paediatrics.
The total amount paid out to resolve clinical cases in 2007, some €11.6 million - was significantly greater than the €3.3 million paid in 2006 but the State Claims Agency said this was because of large payouts in respect of cerebral palsy claims last year, as well as the fact that cases on hand for a number of years since clinical indemnity was taken over by it in 2002, were now being settled.
The director of the State Claims Agency, Ciarán Breen, said the agency was managing roughly 1,300 medical negligence cases at present. Some of these have accumulated since 2002. The agency received 473 new clinical claims in 2007 and 279 claims were resolved. Total reserves held by the agency to meet clinical claims amount to €449 million.
Meanwhile, Mr Breen said that while around 120 claims have been lodged with his agency for compensation as a result of patients acquiring hospital infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, only one case has to date been settled.
"That case was the subject matter of a confidentiality agreement as between the agency and the plaintiff, and we are not in a position accordingly to indicate what the relevant payout was," he said. However, he indicated it was a medical negligence case with an MRSA complication.
It is already known though that the six-figure payout in this case was in respect of a young male patient who picked up MRSA following routine surgery at a Dublin hospital on an appendix in 2004. As a result of the infection he had to undergo two further operations. A UK microbiologist concluded the infection had been caused by a healthcare worker who was not wearing gloves.
In June, when Mr Breen appeared before the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts, he said the State could face a potential liability of €500 million relating to legal claims from people infected by MRSA. He estimated that if there were "an adverse court finding" in a claim for damages in an MRSA case, the State could face up to 1,500 claims, where the liabilities, including legal costs, could reach €500 million.