MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE PATIENT SAFETY 1.3 (A)(i)

UNDEFINED NOTIFIABLE INCIDENT WRONG PROCEDURE

1.3A(i) Dr. Gabriel Scally has said that the Patient Safety Bill (now the Patient Safety Act 2023) is really quite narrow in scope and there remains the need to provide Patients with the right to make a complaint about their clinical treatment.  Dr. Scally also told RTE that while the Minister could add other incidents where open disclosure should apply, at present, the rights to Open Disclosure only arose in the 2023 Patient Safety Act when the Patient died.

In the example given at News Item Medical Negligence Patient Safety 1.3(A) on the 28^th day of March 2025, that was an example of a Notifiable incident involving a wrong surgical procedure on a Patient which did not involve the death of the Patient.      The Patient was scheduled for surgery on the Patient’s left knee but due to a miscommunication between the Surgical team, the surgeon mistakenly performed the procedure on the Patient’s Right knee instead of the left.   The Patient did not suffer life threatening consequences from the wrong procedure, but did experience physical and emotional distress due to the additional surgery and recovery. 

If as a result of this surgery the Patient died then that would be a notifiable incident under the 2023 Act.

There appears no good reason as to why this incident should not be defined as a Notifiable Incident and the Minister has an opportunity under Section 8 to introduce regulations to cover such an incident and there does not appear any proposals to do so at present.

For more detailed insights into how the Patient Safety Act 2023 impacts you and how Whelan Law can support you, please visit our Patient Safety Rights Legal Advice https://www.whelanlaw.ie/news/medical-negligence-and-patient-safety/