The Master of the Rotunda Hospital has said calls by the family of a pregnant woman, who apparently took her own life, would be taken on board in a review of the case.
Dr Sam Coulter-Smith was speaking following the inquest into the death of Anna Byrne from Dunboyne, Co Meath.
She was 38 weeks pregnant when her body was found in the sea at Howth last March.
Her husband has called for the sharing of a patient's psychiatric notes between mental health and obstetrics teams.
Dr Coulter-Smith said practices would be reviewed.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said: "If we think that there are lessons that can be learned, then we'll take them on board....If we feel that there is definitely something we can change which will be beneficial, then we will implement it immediately."
However, Dr Coulter-Smith said cases like Mrs Byrne's were "extraordinarily rare" - about one in half a million pregnancies - and it should be reviewed carefully.
"I think it's important not to have a knee-jerk reaction to this type of situation. We have had a system in place where the mental health notes and the obstetric notes have been separate, and that has not caused a problem up to now."
He said there were no suggestions that there were any care issues involved in the case. The patient had the care of a mental health support team and even those closest to her did not see any warning signs.
The Master said it might not be appropriate to have detail of a patient's background in their notes from a confidentiality point of view.
But he said: "If we feel we can do this better we will."
