Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2023
768. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Health the amount paid in legal costs to each of the top ten legal firms representing plaintiffs in medical negligence cases in 2022 and to date in 2023 ; the number of cases that payments relate to in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35163/23]
View answer769. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Health the amount paid in legal costs to each of the top ten legal firms representing plaintiffs in medical negligence cases in the first six months of 2023; the number of cases that payments relate to in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35164/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 768 and 769 together.
The State Claims Agency (SCA) has a statutory remit to manage personal injury claims on behalf of Delegated State Authorities including the Health Service Executive. I have been informed by the SCA that the information contained in the attached report has been extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS) according to the below criteria.
Response from SCA:
• The information contained in this report has been extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
• Medical negligence claims are identified on NIMS through the Incident / Hazard Category of Clinical Care.
• Plaintiff legal costs relate to the payment made to the plaintiff’s legal team i.e. Solicitors and Counsel and are inclusive of expert fees which are discharged by the plaintiff’s solicitor. These expert fees may relate to actuarial, engineering, medical, witness fees etc.
• PQ 35164/23 and PQ 35163/23 are answered together in this report.
• Amounts include VAT.
Criteria used
• Table 1 and Table 2 show the ten plaintiff legal teams who received the highest legal costs payments in 2022 and for January to June 2023.
• This report is correct as of 30/06/2023.
Definitions:
National Incident Management System (NIMS): Incidents (which include claims) are reported using the “National Incident Management System”, hosted by the State Claims Agency (SCA). An incident can be a harmful Incident (Adverse Event), no harm incident, near miss, dangerous occurrence (reportable circumstance) or complaint.
Claim : A claim refers to notification of intention to seek compensation for personal injury and/or property damage where it is alleged the State was negligent. The application may be in the form of a letter of claim, an InjuriesBoard.ie application, or a written/oral request.
Clinical Claim: A claim which falls under the Incident Hazard category of Clinical Care. This category includes incidents relating to the provision of services of a diagnostic or palliative nature. It also includes incidents relating to the provision of treatment. Incidents present in this category will be related to Labour/Delivery, Diagnosis, Surgical/Medical, Care Management, Clinical Procedure, medication incidents or nutrition/blood related incidents.
Plaintiff Legal Costs : Plaintiff legal costs relate to the payment made to the Plaintiff’s legal team i.e. Solicitors and Counsel and are also inclusive of expert fees which are discharged by the Plaintiff’s solicitor. These expert fees may relate to actuarial, engineering, medical, witness fees etc.
