The Master of Dublin's Holles Street Hospital has warned that the current medical negligence litigation system is not working and its adversarial nature is is leading many doctors and midwives to change their practice or even take early retirement.

Dr Rhona Mahony of the National Maternity Hospital, in an interview with irishhealth.com, said there is now a newly-defined condition called 'medical malpractice syndrome' suffered by clinical staff.

The symptoms of the syndrome include anxiety, loss of appetite, depression etc. Dr Mahony says there is quite a high rate of depression among doctors and midwives who go through the legal system.

"What we see in some cases, what I have seen directly and what this hospital has experienced, is people changing their practice following a major case. They may either stop practising or avoid high-risk situations, or take early retirement."

Dr Mahony said the current redress system following adverse clinical incidents, based on finding fault, needed to be reformed in order to move away from the three 'pillars' of blame, litigation and punishment.

"Not all adverse outcomes are the result of a person being negligent or careless, so it is very difficult for staff to be faced with the accusations and the personal questions raised about them when they go through a litigation case."

Dr Mahony stressed that where harm had been done people should be compensated, but in terms of changing the system 'we need to look in Ireland about how we can do it better.'

In terms of cerebral palsy cases, Dr Mahony said it is estimated that only 10% of cases may be related to labour, and parents often have no choice but to litigate in order to get the necessary services and income to look after their child.

She said in cerebral palsy cases: "we should be aiming to care for every child, every time."

On maternal mortality, Dr Mahony said Ireland's rate was low by international standards, and this was against the background of the Irish health system having fewer resources than many others.

She said a lot of lessons had been learned form the Savita Halappanavar case and would be carried forward, and that was as it should be.

On adverse maternity outcomes, she said: "We can spend a lot of time blaming people and looking for heads to roll but the most important thing is that we learn."

Dr Mahony said a priority for he remaining five years of her term as Master would be bringing the recently -sanctioned move of Holles Street to St Vincent's Hospital to fruition.

Rhona Mahony was the first woman to be elected Master of a maternity hospital in Ireland. Two of the three Dublin hospitals now have women Masters.

Read the full interview here