When we have taken full instructions from you and examined your medical records, we will generally decide to obtain expert reports to help build your case.
These may be from a specialist doctor practising in the same field. Very often, because the medical community in Ireland is very small, we will deal with a doctor from the UK who does not know the treating doctor here.
In Ireland, while doctors will often provide a medical report outlining a mistake made by a colleague, they have no enthusiasm for doing so and delays can often occur. In addition, they are reluctant to become involve in giving evidence in Court.
In the UK, however, there are specialist doctors who provide evidence in medical negligence cases as part of their job. They are generally very impartial and will provide an honest opinion of the merits of the case and will make themselves available to travel to Ireland to give evidence.
They will sometimes need to examine our client and some travel to Ireland to do this. In some cases our client will have to travel to the UK. In other cases, a physical examination will not be necessary and the doctor from the UK can prepare his report based on the medical records that have been provided to him.
Other experts that we frequently employ are experts in nursing care, psychiatrists, psychologists, experts in occupational therapy and financial experts who can calculate the financial loss that will arise from an inability to work or a restriction in the work that can be done in the future.
