The average cost to the MPS concerning claims in obstetrics and gynaecology between 2012-22, including all defence payments, legal fees and damages, rose from €57,000 to €200,000, he said.
Recommendations by the Law Reform Commission in reports in 2008 and 2016 aimed at improving the quality of expert evidence have not been advanced by Government, he said.Some experts from the UK who give evidence here have been retired for some time, he said. The CV of one individual who gave expert evidence in litigation concerning urogynaecological or transvaginal mesh implants shows no publications on urogynaecology or mesh, he said.
Arguably, the most serious challenge presented by expert evidence is the usurpation or perhaps the overwhelming of judicial decision making, he said. He and Prof Keane were among several speakers at a seminar on expert evidence, organised by the Medico-Legal Society of Ireland, at the King’s Inns in Dublin on Saturday.
Dr James Thorpe, MPS deputy medical director, said, given the importance of expert work, it is concerning there are difficulties in finding “appropriately qualified” doctors to undertake it. “Instruction often relies on word of mouth, and there is no central register.”
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