Our Approach – Dealing with Medical Wrongs (Negligence)

Doctors make mistakes ( a mistake may not amount to negligence but we will advise you on this)

Some people may be familiar with the Latin Primum Non Nocere which means “first do no harm” as a basic requirement of medical practice.

Not only do Doctors want to do no harm but they want to reach out to help patients, often at all costs. Doctors also want to feel in their heart that what they do is exactly what is required.

Unfortunately the pressure of a great number of patients with too few experienced doctors especially in our hospitals where often the patient is being examined by a trainee or junior doctor leads to simple mistakes with actual or potential serious outcomes.

The father of medicine required each of his students to take an oath swearing to abide by the highest standards as they practised medicine.

In recent years, both here in Ireland and in many western countries, the healthcare policy of Public healthcare versus Private medical insurance (or in the case of Ireland an unhealthy mix of both) has created a healthcare industry driven by profit. Unfortunately, the price that western countries are now paying for a profit driven healthcare system is that the well trained medical experts are left with very little time one to one time with patients or on case files. In our experience it is this lack of quality patient / doctor time and overworked doctors that lead to the most serious mistakes occurring. The magic of pure medical care is lost and replaced by profit seeking businesses.

The two notions of care and profit are at opposite ends of any doctor’s room.

• Compassion is the recognition of suffering of another with the desire to alleviate suffering.
• Dignity is in every person. It desires to be acknowledged and recognised.
• Pride is about who we are or what we have accomplished. The reality is that such viewings are actually a statement of our own insecurity.

We must before taking on an action against any doctor recognise that the anger or hostility against another that you feel has wronged you is like drinking poison and hoping it damages the other person. It poisons your involvement with others and your outlook on the world. The reality is we have all wronged others. We are all including doctors and surgeons frail and fragile and have not lived up to our ideal and have injured or hurt others. It is with this psychotherapeutical approach we deal with medical wrongs.

We have developed longstanding relationships with a number of medical experts based in London. During our sessions with these medical experts we have gained an invaluable understanding of how doctors work as the experts provide the examples of how mistakes are made. In Ireland we are very slowly developing this practice but as yet it has not advanced to this level.

In our experience an early admission of wrongdoing by the medical team is the most effective solution to dealing with medical wrongs. This assists your legal team by allowing them to communication (advocate) on your behalf in an open manner. In addition, it provides for early intervention which is nearly always the best way forward for the patient.

this approach called the ‘collaborative approach’ is widely used in the area of medical malpractice in the USA and the UK and is slowly finding its place in Ireland.