Hospital Negligence Statute of Limitations Rules Updated

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne has made an important ruling in the High Court regarding the definition of “date of knowledge” for medical negligence claims and hospital negligence claims. The 1957 Statute of Limitations Act has been updated to reduce the time from “date of knowedge” to making injury claims to two years (rules are different for child injury claims).
However, Ms Justice Dunne ruled that an individual may be aware of an injury but not be aware that it was caused by negligence. Specifically, Justice Dunne said that in the case of Edward Naessens that it was “very difficult to accept” that the victim had the necessary medical expertise to decide if a recurrence of a tumour was due to medical negligence.
In this particular case, the victim Edward Naessens had an operation in February 1994 for an adenoid cystic carcinoma (removing a cancer tumour) but was told that no further treatment was required apart from six-montly reviews. He was told in 1996 that additional pain was due to scar tissue and nerve damage. It was only after a recurrence in 2000, after which he received comprehensive post-operation care in St. James’ Hospital, that Naessens realised that he had not received the same level of care previously. Specifically, it was claimed that after his first operation, Neassens should have received additional radiation treatment and a CT scan when he complained of pain, in addition to being advised about the high risk of a recurrence of cancer.
The defendants were the CEO and a consultant surgeon at St. Vincent’s Hospital, who had requested that the court rule that the case was statute barred.
The decision now means that not all medical negligence claims are automatically subject to the two year Statute of Limitations rule.  It also confirms that judges do indeed have full discretion regarding interpretation of the rules in the interest of serving justice when there are special circumstances.