Medical insurer warns of insufficient funds

ONE of the two medical insurers providing cover for hospital consultants has warned it will not be able to afford payouts to victims of medical negligence under a Government plan to take over the handling of claims.

The Medical Defence Union (MDU), which insures about half the country's 1,600 consultants, says if it loses customers, it will have not have sufficient funds to honour awards for claims already before the courts or still to be lodged. It is calling on the Government to take responsibility for such claims known as historic liability but the issue is extremely contentious as the awards involved are likely to run into hundreds of millions of euro.

The MDU has said its only alternative would be to impose massive premium increases on consultants doing private hospital work who will be excluded from the Government scheme.