Dr. Tony Holohan:

The Deputy is absolutely right. The ethical code under the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, as amended in 2017, is the guide that binds every doctor. A failure to comply with its requirements can be grounds upon which a patient or any other person can make a complaint against an individual medical practitioner. The Deputy is correct in that respect. If I may just comment, some of what is being said here is a more general issue for the profession. In general terms the profession itself has espoused and continues to espouse its commitment to the values of openness, honesty and open disclosure. Perhaps not every single member of the profession has fully discharged those obligations appropriately. I am not making a judgment in respect of this. It is very important that the profession, on its own and in its own standing, finds means to make clear to the public its commitment to those values because, independent of the roles of the HSE and the Department of Health, very significant societal charges are being made in a broad sense about the values ascribed to open disclosure, trust and honest on the part of individual medical practitioners. I hope the profession can find a means, through its collegiate structure and elsewhere, to reassure the public about its commitment to these principles.