An Equality Officer found that a hospital discriminated against a separated father by requiring him to use a solicitor to obtain records about his daughter, and ordered the hospital to pay him €2,000. The decision was dated 17 September 2010.
The father had also complained that the hospital discriminated by obtaining consent from the child’s mother alone before an operation. The officer found no discrimination on the family-status ground and no discrimination on the marital-status ground in relation to consent. The hospital sought consent from one available parent regardless of marital status.
But the officer found that the hospital treated the father less favourably because he was separated when it required him to go through a solicitor to obtain his daughter’s records. The hospital failed to rebut that finding. The officer also ordered the hospital to review its procedures for providing information to parents and guardians of minors and publish the resulting document within 12 months.