The Department of Health has created a two-tier system for children with cerebral palsy, the Medical Defence Union (MDU)claimed at an Oireachtas Health Committee meeting yesterday.
The union said the inequality arose when an indemnity deal struck by the Department and the Medical Protection Society in 2001 excluded cases which arose before 2001.
The Department agreed to guarantee payment of claims since then, but litigants with children born before that date had no such guarantees, MDU chief executive, Dr Michael Saunders said.
The MDU did not have the funds to deal with these cases. The union provides discretionary indemnity to its members but is not an insurance company,
In 1998 and 1999, the MDU paid €14.7 million in compensation awards and legal costs, while obstetricians paid €6.3 million in subscriptions.
In the past 10 years, the volume of claims has been doubling every three years.
Dr Saunders said a "huge crisis" was presented by this funding gap.
Obstetric claims arising from cerebral palsy take about 10 years from the incident to the settlement.
Dr Saunders said it would have been impossible to have collected the necessary subscriptions, had the union anticipated these claims many years earlier.
"For example, in 1980, an obstetrician's salary was approximately £10,000 and our subscription was £100. We now know that we would have needed to charge obstetricians £21,000 each," he said.
The MDU called on the State to find a solution to the crisis. "We are just the messengers. This is not a problem of our making," Dr Saunders said.
Until the issue was resolved, the MDU had no option but to exercise discretion in the cases it assisted, he said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the minutes of the Oireachtas Committee meeting would have to be studied before Dr Saunders' remarks could be commented on.
