Irwin v Donaghy
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1995 |
| Date | 01 January 1995 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
- Extent of discovery - Claim in respect of personal injuries or death - Medical records - Plaintiff claiming damages for personal injuries including continuing financial loss - Master ordering discovery of all medical records and notes - Whether medical records relevant to an issue in proceedings -Whether order should be amended to limit discovery - Administration of Justice Act, 1970, s. 32.
The plaintiff claimed damages for personal injury, loss and damage allegedly sustained by his contracting dermatitis as a result of the alleged negligence of his employers, the defendants. He claimed loss of earnings from 2 March, 1994, to date and alleged that his choice and scope of employment and other activities had been and would be severely restricted. On the defendants' application for discovery pursuant to s. 32 of the Administration of Justice Act, 1970, Master Wilson ordered that the plaintiff's general practitioner, Dr. Fox, and the Southern Health and Social Services Board (the board) should disclose whether they had at any time in their power, custody or possession any medical notes, records or x-rays relating to the plaintiff and should serve on the plaintiff and the defendants a list of the documents so disclosed, together with a notice stating a time within ten days after the service thereof on which the documents might he inspected by the plaintiff at a place specified in the notice. It was further ordered that where the plaintiff did not within that period inspect the documents or object on the grounds of privilege to their production, the board and Dr. Fox should produce to the defendants all the documents so disclosed and permit the defendants to take copies thereof or provide the defendants following such production with copies thereof at their expense. The plaintiff objected to general access to medical notes and records in the absence of a precise indication of the basis of the request and the necessity of such access. He appealed against the order contending that since he had agreed to the disclosure of documents relating to the dermatitis condition and would agree to disclose records relating to a fall suffered by him in respect of which damages were also claimed, and would agree to disclose his medical records to the defendants' medical advisers, the court should decline to exercise its discretion to order discovery of all medical records to the defendants and their legal advisers. The defendants sought...
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Morley (Eilish) on her own behalf and as personal representative of the estate of Morley (Eoin) (deceased) v The Ministry of Defence and others
...submits that the court can order the documents be provided to someone other than the applicant. He observed that in Irwin v Donaghy [1995] NI 178, where a section 32 application had been made by the defendant for the plaintiff’s medical records, Girvan J permitted that the documents be prod......
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Eamonn Finn (a minor by his mother and next friend Frances Finn) v Albert McKee
...of this the defendants therefore sought the records relating to M. [4] Mr Cush referred to the judgment of Girvan J in Irwin v Donaghy [1995] NI 178 at 185. In that decision the judge set out in a helpful summary the state of the law in light of the decisions of the House of Lords in McIvor......