Application to extend time for defamation proceedings after death of patient refused

The High Court refused an application by a widow to extend the time for bringing defamation proceedings against a consultant psychiatrist, a health authority, a general practitioner, and several regulatory bodies, arising from alleged defamatory statements made in the course of and after the psychiatric care and subsequent death of her late husband. The court found that most of the alleged defamatory statements were made more than two years prior to the application and thus were statute-barred, with no evidence of fraudulent concealment to toll the limitation period. In relation to more recent communications about the applicant’s authority to access her late husband’s records, the court determined that any alleged harm was negligible, the communications were made in a privileged and regulatory context without malice, and the balance of prejudice and the interests of justice did not warrant an extension. The application was accordingly refused. The underlying proceedings relating to wrongful death and discovery of medical records remain unaffected.