Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the subject of good faith, I have put this to the Minister on a previous occasion. I think there is a body of legal opinion that would accept that the standard of good faith is more subjective and that what is being sought - I imagine by Deputy Ó Cuív as well as myself - is a standard requiring more objectivity or reference to objectivity. For example, the 2009 Medical Council guidelines stipulate that psychiatrists undertake a full assessment of any suicide risk in light of the clinical research on this issue. Clinical research is an objective standard. The reason we are here is to codify a situation that has been unsatisfactory, but equally, we are given assurances that it is restrictive. That being the case, why do we have to imply something rather than stating it explicitly? We are talking about best clinical practice because the good faith argument and the use of that term in medical negligence cases has evolved to a point of requiring reasonable objectivity on the part of the medical practitioner. Good faith in case law, at least in part, would be seen as more of a subjective test. This speaks to the standard to which we require medical practitioners to operate. As I have explained in person to the Minister, I would be more comforted if we had reference to an objective standard here.