Hospitals and The Law

Hi,

I'm doing a bit of research and I'm a little confused, your help would be much appreciated.

What legislation and laws are in place in Ireland in relation to hospitals and the care they give.

For example if a person is dying and has organs which are in perfect condition but they do not have a donor card what is to stop the hospital from just taking them anyway?

Is there a specific document on the duty of care a hospital has for a patient?

Sorry if I'm not making any sense!

I don not know the exact answer to your question, but if someone does not have a donor card, the next of kin must give consent. I think even in the case of donor cards, the next of kin STILL have to give consent.(open to correction here, but I am fairly sure this is the case)

The hospital may not remove organs for donation without express consent

Nicola

Thanks,

I'm trying to find the bit of the law which deals with a hospitals duty of care to a patient and how they must protect the rights of a patient.

It's proving difficult to find!

It comes under the umbrella of tort law/professional negligence and really your not going to get a comprehensive enough answer here. I'd suggest getting your hands on an Irish tort book like a student revision edition.

As I understand it, there is very little legislation regulating hospitals. HIQA have a role in inspecting hospitals, so you might want to check into their powers. AFAIK, there is very little or no regulation of private hospitals. Most of the medical professionals are regulated by their professional bodies, rather than through the hospital itself.

McCrack said:

It comes under the umbrella of tort law/professional negligence and really your not going to get a comprehensive enough answer here. I'd suggest getting your hands on an Irish tort book like a student revision edition.

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Ok, thanks for that.

For example if a person is dying and has organs which are in perfect condition but they do not have a donor card what is to stop the hospital from just taking them anyway?

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Quite simple - the organs are someones property - the patients or their heirs if they are legally dead. If the hospital was to take them without permission, it would be theft. There may also be assault type charges for violating someones bodily integrity without their permission.