Sir, – Further to your editorial (September 29th) on the necessity of duty of candour legislation, you might note that the Medical Injuries Alliance has been campaigning for such legislation for the past four years and this is one of our stated primary objectives.
We held an international conference on the issue in November 2013, which highlighted the positive experience in other jurisdictions where such a duty had been introduced. Our association was also represented before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children in January of this year in relation to the same issue, where both our representatives and patients who had been through a contentious litigation process called for such a duty to be introduced in Ireland.
We are aware from the patients who are members of our association that almost invariably what they are seeking when they or their child is injured as a result of medical negligence are answers and an explanation of what occurred.
Furthermore, those patients who have been through the litigation process describe it as a very protracted and incredibly stressful experience. The process is doubtless also distressing for the medical practitioners involved.
Surely, at this point, instead of blaming any particular State organisation, or indeed having different State organisations blame one another for the current difficulties, it is high time politicians simply acted to introduce a legal duty of candour in order to fix what seems to be a glaringly obvious problem. – Yours, etc,
JOICE CARTHY,
Secretary,
Medical Injuries Alliance,
Ormond Building,
Ormond Quay Upper,
Dublin 7.