Note to Minister for Health re Medical Practitioners Act

On the 26th October ISME wrote to the Minister for Health regarding The Medical Practitioners Act.

Since our last correspondences, at least one medical doctor has been arrested by An Garda Siochána in an inquiry into 200 false insurance claims. There has also been a number of personal injuries cases thrown out of the Circuit and High Courts where there was a marked and medically inexplicable divergence between the medical reports submitted by plaintiffs in support of their statements of claim, and medical reports subsequently carried out on the same plaintiffs by insurers.

In our view, it is a very serious matter for a regulated profession such as the medical profession that the investigators of first instance into misconduct are An Garda Siochána. The matters complained of in our July 2020 letter are not new, and investigative reporters have found evidence of cartel-like behaviour between some doctors and solicitors in the fabrication of exaggerated or false claims. The fact that there does not appear to be any inquiry by the Medical Council is indicative to us of regulatory failure.

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