The Irish health minister dropped plans to name a hospital under construction in Dublin, Ireland the Phoenix Children's Hospital after criticism and threats of legal action by Phoenix Children's Hospital in Arizona, reports The Times.
Phoenix Children's in Arizona threatened legal action against the Dublin hospital on Nov. 27, 2017, arguing the name similarities would confuse patients and disrupt care.
The decision to drop the proposed name, according to Simon Harris, the Minister for Health in Ireland, is to avoid confusion and prevent controversy. Mr. Harris suggested the new Dublin Hospital should be named National Children's Hospital Ireland instead.
"I have decided not to proceed with the hospital's name. I do not want the name to cause confusion or controversy in what is a major infrastructural project for our citizens. For the moment, National Children's Hospital Ireland seems apt to me," Mr. Harris told The Times.
In addition to the Arizona-based Phoenix Children's legal action, the name "Phoenix" has drawn criticism from other healthcare organizations in Ireland. Medical chiefs from other children's hospitals in Ireland argued that using Phoenix in the name is insensitive to parents of deceased children whose organs were incinerated after being kept without permission.