192 / 338
Medical practitioners. Disclosure of infor
mation concerning patients
The Council considered a report from a committee
on correspondence
received
from a
local bar
association bringing to the notice of the Society
the question whether medical practitioners who treat
or attend injured parties should be at liberty after
wards to submit reports on their patients to insurance
companies acting against the patients' interests. It
was stated in correspondence from the association
that a County Council employee who consulted a
member of the Association was treated in a County
Hospital for injuries. When the patient's solicitor
asked for a report from the acting surgeon in the
hospital it was refused on the ground that a report
had already been furnished to an insurance company.
It was pointed out to the doctor that the patient had
not consented to the report being sent to the
insurance company and it was then learned that the
instructions for the furnishing of the report to the
insurance company came from an official of the
County Council, the injured man's employers. The
association asked the Society to take the matter
up with the Irish Medical Association.
It was
decided that a communication should be sent to the
I.M.A., for the observations of that body.
Lectures by solicitors
A member enquired whether there would be any
professional objection to his delivering a lecture on
the Constitution
in connection with an adult
education course promoted by a local parish guild
of Muintir na Tire.
It would be advertised by a
poster with member's name displayed outside the
parish hall. A committee whose report was adopted
by the Council stated that they had considered the
following
statement printed
in
the GAZETTE,
April, 1944.
Any activity on the part of a solicitor of a
self-advertising nature designed to attract business
is clearly not permissible. Lectures delivered or
articles published by a solicitor contrary to this
principle therefore necessarily involve a breach
of professional etiquette.
The report of the committee went on to state that
there is no objection to the publication of the name
of the solicitor as lecturer, even if the lecture is on
a legal topic, if it is given to members of an associ
ation provided that the literature relating to the
lecture
is circulated only
to members of the
association.
If there is a newspaper report of the
lecture in the local press there would not be any
objection provided that the solicitor does not invite
or instigate publication and that the lecture is not
delivered with a view to the unfair attraction of
business but is given on the invitation of the
association
bonafide
for the benefit of its members.
Insurance company filing defence inconsistent
with
position
represented
during
negotiations
A committee reported on correspondence with
an insurance company on the matter mentioned in
the Society's GAZETTE of July, 1959. A member had
acted for plaintiffs in proceedings against a company
in respect of an accident in which a motor vehicle
the property of the company was involved. The
vehicle was being driven by an employee of the
company under a hiring contract with the company.
Member had assumed, and the insurance company
had not denied, during negotiations that the car
was being driven by the employee as such and the
existence of the hiring contract was not disclosed
until after proceedings had been instituted against
the company.
It was then found that by virtue of
section 3 of the Road Traffic Act, 1934, the driver
and not the company was to be regarded as the
owner and accordingly proceedings had been
wrongly instituted. The insurance company con
cerned have now agreed that in future cases of this
kind the company will notify the plaintifFs solicitor
if the car is driven under a hiring agreement so that
his attention may be directed to section 3 of the
Road Traffic Act, 1934.
The Council, however,
think it advisable to inform members that it would
be prudent to make an enquiry as to the possible
existence of a hiring contract in such cases before
assuming that a motor vehicle is driven by an
employee in pursuance of his contract of employment
and instituting proceedings on that basis. If there
is a hiring contract the driver and not the company
hiring out the vehicle is to be deemed the owner for
the purpose of proceedings.
Claims of Irish nationals on foreign estates
The Council approved the following report from
a committee :
1. An Irish solicitor should not act on behalf of
an American or other foreign agent for the
purpose of obtaining the execution by an Irish
citizen in favour of any other person of a power
of attorney dealing with the interest of that
citizen in an estate situate abroad unless the
agent is a lawyer acting either for a beneficiary
or for the duly appointed personal represen
tative.
2. An Irish solicitor acting on the instructions of
a foreign agent should in no case obtain the
signature of an Irish citizen to a power of
attorney as mentioned above unless the Irish