Consultants at St James's Hospital in Dublin will be balloted on industrial action next week if a row over insurance cover is not immediately resolved.
The form of action they might take, if a ballot is carried, is not yet clear, but it is understood a number of consultants want to take all-out strike action. Sources yesterday said it was more likely emergency cover would be provided if industrial action was taken.
The senior doctors at St James's want to take action in support of a colleague, a surgeon who is being sued for negligence but who has been refused cover by the British-based Medical Defence Union, to which he paid subscriptions over the years.
The MDU has refused to provide assistance in several cases in recent weeks. It is at loggerheads with the Department of Health over who should provide cover for claims arising out of past incidents since the Department introduced a new insurance scheme to cover all consultants last February 1st.
Members of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association took industrial action for the first time over the change earlier in the year but postponed stepping up their action when negotiations between the MDU and the Department of Health got under way.
The St James's consultants are so angry at what they see as a colleague "being hung out to dry" that they want to go it alone on further action. They made this decision at a meeting of the hospital's medical board on Wednesday, which sources said was attended by over 70 consultants.
Representatives of the IHCA and the Irish Medical Organisation are expected to meet the Minister for Health, Ms Harney, next week. The medical board of St James's will then meet again next Friday to consider the outcome of the meeting with Ms Harney and if they are not satisfied, the ballot will proceed.