Why is the Irish Government getting involved in a Spanish medical negligence case?

The Department of Health is seeking to reverse a European court decision a Spanish woman's human rights were violated when her nipple was removed during breast cancer surgery. Why? To restrict medical negligence claims in Ireland

If the Government succeeds in persuading the ECHR the cancer patient in Spain should fail in her claim, it does not bode well for the development of our rights here in Ireland.

The Government is trying to restrict medical negligence claims in Ireland. This will not benefit patients. Unusually, it hopes to achieve this by weighing in on a medical negligence case against Spain in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). 

The Government aims to persuade the ECHR to reverse its decision that a breast cancer patient’s human rights were violated when her nipple area was removed during a lumpectomy, without her consent.