A State tribunal last year awarded €2.96m to one victim of contaminated blood products.

THE health consequences of fitting Irish patients with defective hip implants are more serious than first realised and the state could end up picking up the tab, a medical negligence lawyer warned yesterday.

A MAJOR US company which produced faulty artificial hips given to more than 93,000 people worldwide, including 3,500 Irish patients, has been heavily criticised after it insisted any refunds or covered repair surgery costs are dependent on the equipment being returned to the firm.

THE State’s potential €500 million compensation bill for medical negligence claims could be “hugely reduced” if people were dealt with in an open and transparent way, a health law specialist has said.

AN Irish firm of solicitors has teamed up with a major American law firm to begin what could become an international class action against drug company Merck, makers of the controversial painkiller, Vioxx.