A government group tasked with finding a transparent alternative to lengthy multimillion-euro medical negligence cases was abruptly mothballed five years ago — over claims a new system would cost too much.

Solicitors will shortly serve legal proceedings on the State on behalf of six adult narcolepsy victims who developed the condition after receiving the Pandemrix swine flu vaccine.

Insurers paid €15m to a Cork chemical company following an explosion at its plant four years ago, it emerged yesterday at the sentencing hearing in a health and safety case.

An explosion that killed one employee and seriously injured another at a chemical plant was described as one of the worst in the history of the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland.

AN interim settlement of €1.9m was approved by the High Court in a case in which a consultant obstetrician has apologised to a six-year-old girl left in a wheelchair from severe cerebral palsy.

DOCTORS and hospitals should be legally obliged to tell the truth to patients and their families when a medical accident occurs, according to a new lobby group.

MEAGRE returns on so-called “blue chip” investment products, including Irish bank shares, have decimated investments made on behalf of children catastrophically injured at birth, a legal expert has claimed.

The Government is considering changing the system by which people receive compensation in medical negligence cases.

THERE may be up to 8,000 deaths every year as a result of medical negligence and medical accidents in Irish hospitals, a major conference on clinical and medical negligence heard yesterday.

A six-year-old permanently brain damaged boy is to receive €4.5 million plus legal costs in settlement of his marathon legal action against the National Maternity Hospital alleging negligence in the management of his birth. The hospital also faces a total legal bill of an estimated €4m.

A six-year-old, permanently brain-damaged boy is to receive €4.5m plus legal costs in settlement of his marathon legal action against the National Maternity Hospital alleging negligence in the management of his birth.

A SOLICITOR member of the group established to examine a new compensation scheme for brain-damaged children said he was “stunned and astounded” to find out that their plans could be abandoned due to questions over its constitutionality.

I REFER to your excellent feature article (Irish Examiner July, 18 on the problems that arise when trying to devise a fair and equitable system of compensating babies and their families injured due to negligence at birth.

AN EXPERT group set up by the Department of Health to examine the possibility of taking childbirth litigation cases out of the courts service has not met in over 18 months.

THE mother of a brain-damaged boy yesterday claimed a health board attempted to portray her as unfit in a bid to limit the amount of damages it was set to pay out.

A couple who lost an action against the National Maternity Hospital over the alleged retention of the organs of their still-born daughter today lodged a Supreme Court appeal.

A company that won a 2003 Ministerial merit award for health and safety was convicted and fined today on four charges related to a release of toxic and carcinogenic material into the workplace at their plant in Currabinny, Co Cork.