Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 October 2004
7 Mr. Timmins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her plans for legislation, similar to the Good Samaritans Act in the USA, to give legal support to members of the public who give assistance to a person who gets ill; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26285/04]
View answerThe Government has no plans at present to introduce legislation to give an indemnity to persons who render assistance in emergencies. The need for such legislation has not been demonstrated. To initiate a claim for compensation against a person who rendered assistance in the course of an emergency, a plaintiff would have to establish that the person concerned owed a duty of care to the person who had been taken ill and that this duty had been breached resulting in loss or injury. This is virtually impossible under Irish law. The clinical indemnity scheme provides indemnity cover for professional staff employed by health agencies covered by the scheme for good samaritan acts. This decision was taken to facilitate suitably qualified and experienced staff in coming to the assistance of people involved in medical emergencies. I am considering having the scheme extended to cover volunteers who have been recruited and trained by health boards to operate portable defibillators in remote areas which might otherwise lack such a service. These initiatives are sufficient to deal with all reasonable needs for indemnity cover.
I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. I am pleased she is considering extending the scheme. When will the scheme be operable because many communities are waiting to get started?
Will she agree to discuss the matter with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the OPW and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform with a view to providing defibillators to community-based projects?
Last week the Deputy spoke to me in the corridor about this issue, for which I would like to give him credit. It is not something I had been advised of. I will discuss the matter with the relevant authorities to see if we can provide more extensive coverage of what I believe works very well in Wicklow, to which the Deputy referred.
Will the clinical indemnity insurance scheme be extended to cover these people?
I am awaiting advice on the matter and I will revert to the Deputy as soon as possible. I hope the scheme can be extended.
Will all health care professionals such as nurses and doctors be covered under the clinical indemnity scheme? Will it include junior doctors and all staff who work in the health service?
I have been advised that it covers professional staff. It does not use the word "all". I will check on the matter.
Has the Tánaiste written to the hospital consultants giving them the guarantee she gave verbally at their conference that no patient or doctor would be left uncovered against legal action?
I communicated with the consultants today.
In writing.
Yes. There are significant legal issues involved but I am determined to ensure that no patient or doctor will be left uncovered, which would be very unreasonable. There are serious legal issues involved and, therefore, we must move forward cautiously.
Are the consultants' contracts still tied in with the Tánaiste's views on the historical liability issue?
I look forward to discussing a number of issues with the consultants. These are key to the reform agenda in the health service. My strong view is that we should sit down within a timeframe and discuss all the issues together. I have assured them that I will be fair and business-like in the manner in which we deal with them. However, we cannot have an open-ended agenda where no one knows where they stand. That would not be satisfactory.
If the consultants took a case against the MDU would the Department of Health and Children be prepared to indemnify them?
That is one of the issues I am discussing with the Attorney General. I understand the MDU appeared before a Dáil committee last week and I note it did not answer the question as to whether it had taken consultants in the UK off cover. There are many issues involved from the Irish taxpayers' point of view which must be resolved fairly. I am in discussions with the Attorney General on the matter. I do not expect that patients will not be covered or that consultants will be left exposed.
