Results 6,121-6,140 of 18,729 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Do we want doctors to be worse off treating their own patients than if they were treating strangers?

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: The fact they are rewarded for seeing their own patients changes the way in which they must approach the patients. They owe those patients a higher duty of care.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I do not agree with this Bill because it has not been thought through.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: There is a case to be made for a defibrillator system across Ireland and regulating the circumstances under which people would be liable for the use of such equipment. That is a good point but it is not what the Bill is about. The Bill is a wide brush that states the standard of care due from a doctor to a patient varies by reference to whether the patient is on the doctor's list. That is a...

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Then we have another concept. A doctor who knows a great deal at a scene is effectively exempt unless he or she engages in gross negligence and a paramedic who is paid to be there can be sued because the paramedic, who is less expert, is there for reward because he is being paid. Do we want to go down that road? It would not improve our law. When the court and civil liability Bill was being...

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I know, that is my point. The Bill as presented and the intentions behind it were entirely laudable, but when we look at the contents of the Bill, they make it possible for the first time to sue someone for failing to act. Is that a good idea? I agree with Deputy Timmins and the other speakers that we do not want a society in which people hesitate to become involved because they worry they...

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: When researching for this debate, however, the Department made some inquiries of the State Claims Agency, which is unaware of any case that has ever been brought in the circumstances described by Deputy Timmins.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I know, and that is the point. We are dealing with a problem that has never existed in the past, where a volunteer offering first aid to someone else in good faith has been sued. Is it a good idea to address a situation that has never arisen in terms that would introduce the idea of people being sued for failure to offer first aid? I worry a great deal about that concept. We should not...

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: It is a fact.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: That is what the Bill will do.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Differential levels of liability could be introduced for health care professionals, which is the term used in the Bill. Does "health care professionals" refer to paramedics, nurses, consultants and general practitioners?

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: If a general practitioner treats the patient of a colleague, he has a duty of care but if he treats his own patient, he has a different duty of care. Will that become law?

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Our great problem is the Deputies have not thought their Bill through.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Bill will introduce concepts into domestic law which have not been thought through. If they had been, Deputy Timmins would have said there would be a differential level of liability between two doctors.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: So from now on paramedics on duty will be liable to be sued in circumstances where experts who do not have a contractual relationship with the patient have no duty. Public servants who take a salary cheque at the end of the month for undertaking duties will be in a different position from consultants who walk past the same scene.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Deputies have not thought this carefully through.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Bill contains only two sections and the Deputies are asking me to move on to the provisions that are appropriate. They are trying to say it is a good idea to amend the law though this legislation.

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am trying to work out whether the Bill is related to defibrillator services or whether it provides for a broad brush, which would ensure people stay away from accident scenes because differential levels of care would be introduced in circumstances in which it is not appropriate to do so. I would like to hear the IMO's views on this, since it represents many general practitioners. Perhaps...

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Is a visit to an accident scene undertaken in the expectation of reward if one is a member of a group practice, which would charge for the call out? Does one owe a greater duty in those circumstances?

Good Samaritan Bill 2005: Second Stage. (6 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I know, but the Bill exempts health care professionals acting in the course of employment. Employment is defined curiously as "having been summoned or called to provide service or assistance for payment or reward". I presume this means in the course of an employment. However, the legislation has not thought through carefully two fundamental concepts, the first of which is whether people can...