Medico-Legal
Caught in the ‘no man’s land’ of care
Clear communication is vital between primary and secondary care, writes Ms Julie Price, Consultant Clinical Risk Advisor to Medisec Effective timely communication among healthcare providers is central to safe care and is particularly important between primary and secondary care. It ensures delivery of high-quality care for patients in a collaborative and efficient way, whilst making…
Read MorePromoting your medical services
Dr Rachel Birch, Medico-legal Consultant at Medical Protection, provides advice on the promotion of a clinical practicefrom a medico-legal perspective Staying up to date on clinical knowledge and skills is fundamental to good medical practice, but doctors should also be mindful of how they present themselves, and their practice, to the public. Many doctors are…
Read MoreUnderstanding informed consent
Ms Suzanne Creed, Clinical Risk Advisor at Medisec, explains what exactly is meant by informed consent Informed consent is a process of communication between a patient and their doctor, providing sufficient information for the patient to ‘make a choice’, about their proposed intervention, ie, a patient-centred approach.Obtaining informed consent is a fundamental principle of medical law.…
Read MoreReceiving and storing patient images
The increased use of remote consultations during the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a lot of queries about the receipt and storage of images sent by patients. Dr Rachel Birch, Medico-legal Consultant at Medical Protection, reviews the relevant guidance The medico-legal implications of obtaining and storing images of patients, including children, are increasingly coming under the…
Read MoreChild welfare and protection – know your statutory obligations
Claire Cregan, Legal Counsel in Medisec, outlines the statutory responsibilities placed on registered medical practitioners in relation to child protection Children are among the most vulnerable persons in our society and it is our responsibility to protect them and keep them safe. Regrettably, we cannot prevent all abuse from taking place but it is important…
Read MoreInvestigating errors in an imperfect system
Dr Pallavi Bradshaw, Medico-legal Lead, Risk Prevention at Medical Protection Society (MPS), addresses how clinical errors should be viewed and investigated to reduce the chance of repeating the same mistakes The HSE recently revealed that there were 63 incidences since 2017 where surgeons operated on the wrong part of a patient’s body.1 The Executive’s records…
Read MoreWhat to do if a staff member refuses to have the Covid-19 vaccine
Dr Rachel Birch, Medico-legal Consultant and Ms Ceylan Simsek, Case Management Assistant at Medical Protection Society (MPS), offer some guidance. More than 400,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccination have been given in Ireland, at the time of writing. But, as with all types of vaccination, there will always be individuals who are hesitant or refuse…
Read MoreThe third wave of the Covid-19 medico-legal query
Ms Síle O’Dowd, Legal Counsel, Medisec, outlines how medico-legal queries in relation to the pandemic have changed over the past year Nearly a year on from the date of the first positive Covid-19 case in Ireland, and it is true to say over that time we have witnessed a rapid evolution of the common Covid-19…
Read MoreLet’s talk: Tough conversations with colleagues
Expressing concerns to colleagues or handling difficult behaviour can be challenging. Dr James Thorpe and Dr Sarah Coope, Senior Medical Educators at Medical Protection, provide some insights that may help tonavigate stressful conversations at work Since the start of the pandemic, Medical Protection has received numerous requests for advice from doctors that relate to medico-legal…
Read MoreTelemedicine beyond Covid-19
While telemedicine has been increasing in use gradually over the years, Covid-19 has been the catalyst for large-scale adoption. Recently, the Medical Council reported a five-fold increase in the use of telemedicine in Ireland since the start of the pandemic, and it is proactively looking at the regulatory challenges presented by the increase in its…
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