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Expert Witness medical evidence to help identify risks to Gardaí

A test case is to be heard in the High Court next January to determine the real risk gardaí face of contracting diseases in their work with infected drug addicts.

Knowledge of the transmissibility of hepatitis C and HIV viruses and the risk factors involved has grown over the past decades.

Ms Justice Irvine has taken three “blood” cases from the Garda compensation list and designated them as test cases to be heard together on January 12th. Senior counsel representing the gardaí seeking compensation, on one side, and the State on the other side, will be heard along with expert witnesses.

According to The Irish Times, “There had been a significant growth in compensation claims by gardaí concerning these viruses and the judge directed a statistical breakdown of the occurrence of the transmission of these infections in the Garda in the past 20 years.

Ms Justice Irvine said claims tended to focus on injuries arising from fear on the part of gardaí of contracting hepatitis C or HIV, causing significant psychological problems including post-traumatic stress disorder.

The court had to ensure that its approach to these cases was consistent and transparent and that they were conducted in a manner which did justice to both the injured and the public purse.

‘I must ensure as a matter of priority that the court is furnished with all of the necessary medical evidence so that it can readily determine what precisely is the real risk of transmission,’ she stated.”

Source: Irish Times

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