Settlement of €1.9m for boy who suffered ‘severe personal injury' at Portlaoise hospital
Portlaoise
who was allegedly delivered after a delayed Caesarean section amid rowing doctors and who suffered 'severe personal injury' has had a €1.9 million settlement in his favour approved by the
High Court
.
The now 16-year-old was born on January 30th, 2009, at the hospital, which has been subject to investigation over patient safety.
His mother sued the
HSE
on behalf of her son for breach of statutory duty – alleged medical negligence – to adequately provide medical services to her and her son in 2009 at the Co Laois hospital.
It was submitted that she was due to give birth around January 25th, 2009, and had attended all of her antenatal appointments, culminating with a clinic at the hospital on January 29th, 2009, when no 'significant abnormal conditions in relation to the pregnancy were present'.
READ MORE
She was admitted to the hospital on January 30th, 2009, five days after her due date, but had 'slow and irregular' pain.
A cardiotocography trace (CTG) was carried out and was found to be 'abnormal', as the unborn baby displayed 'frequent decelerations' in his heart rate. However, despite the abnormal readings, the CTG was discontinued.
A second CTG was carried out at 8.45am the same morning that showed decelerations and abnormalities up to around 12.30pm.
It was claimed that then a syntocinon treatment – an injection involving the drug oxytocin – was administered to augment labour.
It was claimed that the readings from the CTG were not reproduced in a legible fashion and were difficult to interpret.
A decision was made to deliver the boy by emergency Caesarean section and the boy was born at 1.36pm, allegedly 80 minutes after a decision to perform the Caesarean was made – 50 minutes outside the usual time frame.
It was claimed the boy suffered 'extreme difficulties' with breathing, due to hypoxia, and that there was a delay in his resuscitation. In addition, an altercation between members of the hospital staff occurred during the attempts at resuscitation of the plaintiff, it was alleged.
During a second attempt at intubation, a doctor was interrupted by an anaesthetic doctor without invitation who attempted to force an oxygen mask on the child, it was claimed.
It was alleged that the anaesthetist 'brushed aside' the attending doctor and raised his voice, shouting 'for f*** sake just bag him'. The doctor was eventually able to drain meconium – a baby's first stool – from the child through suction, after which safe intubation was performed.
The doctor, it was submitted, was 'considerably interrupted in his attempts to intubate and resuscitate the plaintiff by actions of the anaesthetist doctor'.
In the aftermath of his birth, the plaintiff was noted as being in pain, jaundiced, vomiting with streaks of blood, having hypoxic metabolic acidosis, high blood pressure and in need of ventilation.
The plaintiff spent 11 days in intensive care, and an MRI scan showed the plaintiff's kidney and brain had an infarct resulting in 'severe personal injuries', it was claimed.
At the High Court on Tuesday Mr Justice Paul Coffey was told by John Healy SC, instructed by David O'Malley of Callan Tansey solicitors, for the plaintiff that a final settlement of €1.9 million for breaches of duty by the defendant, albeit without an admission of liability, could be recommended to the court for what he said was the boy's 'turbulent' introduction to the world.
Mr Justice Coffey approved the settlement and addressed the boy, who was present in court, saying he was pleased to see him 'looking so well and I wish you all the best for the future'.
Reacting to the settlement, solicitor David O'Malley, in a statement on behalf the family, said: 'The family welcomes the settlement and for the security it will provide.'
He added: 'It truly is a second-tier maternity system outside of The Pale.
'The family echoes calls by advocate groups to urgently review maternity care in Ireland. One cannot think of a more important right than the right to breathe and be protected at birth.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
9 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
CervicalCheck diagnosed and treated 162 women for cervical cancer in a year
Over the course of one year alone 162 women were diagnosed and treated for cervical cancer through CervicalCheck, a new report shows. The report, covering April 2022-March 2023, also shows that among 269,550 women screened some 11% had HPV - the virus responsible for almost all cervical cancer. These women are monitored so if cancer develops it can be treated early. The report found that 75% of eligible women were tested, while the target is 80% and CervicalCheck clinical director Dr Noirin Russell is keen to see this 80% figure reached. She has raised concerns about 'women who are on the fence' about testing, saying they may not be aware of the benefits of regular testing. "If a woman is diagnosed with cancer after attending for screening, there's an 80% chance she will be diagnosed with stage 1," she said. This early stage can be more treatable. 'In Ireland today your chance of being diagnosed with a late stage cancer, so Stage 2 or above, if you get screened is one in 10,000. If you don't get screened, it's 10 times higher,' she said. This is because screening can help identify early signs of cancer. 'The incidence (of cervical cancer) has gone from 15 per 100,000 down to 10 per 100,000, that's the proof the programme works,' she said. She acknowledged 'this terrible outcome that we see in the newspapers and we really all want to avoid - it's one in 10,000 so that means it is someone'. Dr Russell said she could not comment on individual cases. Concerns around cervical cancer testing were back in the spotlight in June when Cork woman Leona Macken received an apology for failings in her care at the High Court. Ms Macken, who has cervical cancer, sued over two tests, conducted in 2016 and 2020, which it was claimed were incorrectly reported as negative. Sample checking is currently shared between Quest Diagnostics in America and the national laboratory in Dublin. Dr Russell said she is aware of calls to conduct checks only in Ireland. Leona Macken (centre) and her husband Alan (right) settled their legal action against the HSE arising from what they said were failures in the CervicalCheck screening programme in 2016 and 2020. File photo: Collins Courts '(the Irish laboratory) never did more than 10% until this year, and they are on target to get up to approximately 20% of the programme work,' she said. However, she said that interval cancers – cervical cancer found between screening tests – and false negative results can happen in all systems. 'That is not limited to a particular laboratory, that is going to be what we find in cancer cases,' she said. She has worked with advocacy group 221 plus on reforms, saying: 'They felt the programme didn't really explain false negatives and that this is a possible outcome.' She urged: 'It's really important that anyone with symptoms, even if they've had a normal screening test, have those symptoms investigated.' Dr Russell has visited Quest Diagnostics, saying: 'It's done in a particular quarter of the laboratory, so it's a completely different pathway of care. And they follow the Irish standards.' The scientists also do regular skills-tests where they check already-analysed samples and must match the results in 95% of cases. This is assessed by Quest and in Limerick by the National Cervical Screening Programme. Dr Russell said: 'There is an understanding in the cyto-screening community that you can't ask your screeners to get 100% in the proficiency test. If they are getting 95% they are working at the most achievable human level there is but then there will be abnormalities that are missed.'
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Liver cancer: ‘The saddest part is that most of the cases are preventable'
Liver cancer kills more than 700,000 people each year. However, three in five cases could be prevented, according to a comprehensive analysis published in the journal Lancet. The research found that prevention could be accomplished by addressing the disease's major causes – hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcohol -associated liver disease and liver disease linked to metabolic risk factors such as obesity . With nearly 900,000 new cases globally each year, liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer and the third leading cause of death from cancer. If cases continue to rise at the current rate, the number of new annual diagnoses will almost double, rising to 1.5 million globally in 2050, the study predicted. There are two broad categories of liver cancer – primary liver cancer and metastatic (secondary) liver cancer. About 370 people are diagnosed with primary liver cancer each year in Ireland. It is twice as common in men than it is in women. READ MORE The researchers estimated that liver disease from alcohol use and metabolic dysfunction together would account for nearly a third of new liver cancer cases by 2050. The findings align with what liver specialists have seen in their clinics for years. 'Liver cancer is common. It causes immense suffering and death, and the saddest part for me as a physician is that most of the cases are preventable,' said Dr Brian Lee, an associate professor of medicine, who was not involved in the study. Improved screening, vaccination and treatment in recent years have helped stem viral hepatitis. But the threat of liver cancer from heavy alcohol use and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, 'has been underrecognised and underestimated,' said Dr Ahmed Kaseb, a professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology. A vast majority of liver cancers arise in people with cirrhosis, says Dr Hashem El-Serag, chairman of the department of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas and one of the authors of the new study. Cirrhosis, or advanced and largely irreversible scarring of the liver, damages healthy tissue and prevents the organ from working normally. [ Doctors share 19 tips for looking after your liver: Don't drink alcohol every day, but do drink coffee, and lose weight Opens in new window ] The hepatitis B and C viruses cause inflammation that, if left untreated, can scar and damage the liver, potentially leading to cirrhosis. And both alcohol and metabolic dysfunction lead to abnormal deposits of fat in the liver, which can also result in inflammation. Dr Lee says the accumulation of fat and inflammation acts as a 'highway' to liver scarring, which in turn can injure DNA and lead to cancer. 'There could be multiple ramps to get on to that highway,' he said. The new paper found that the share of liver cancers resulting from hepatitis B and hepatitis C is expected to drop to 63 per cent in 2050, from 68 per cent in 2022. But the burden of liver cancers resulting from alcohol and MASLD is expected to grow. An estimated four in 10 adults worldwide have MASLD, a condition in which fat builds up in the liver. Risk factors include obesity and Type 2 diabetes. A subset of patients with MASLD will go on to develop an advanced form called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, which has been described as a silent killer because it can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer without being noticed. Current guidance recommends monitoring for liver cancers in patients who have a history of viral hepatitis or established cirrhosis. Patients with MASH typically don't meet that criteria, Dr Kaseb said, but they could have liver scarring without symptoms, and nobody would know. That's why screening for liver disease needs to begin at the primary care level, where cases can easily go undetected, said Dr Mary Rinella, a hepatologist at University of Chicago Medicine and the lead author of guidelines for the management of MASLD. She recommended that doctors use a metric called the Fib-4, which uses routine blood test results to estimate the amount of liver scarring, to screen high-risk patients. These include people who have Type 2 diabetes or obesity with at least one other metabolic risk factor, such as high cholesterol. [ 'A serious threat to public health': Doctors warn about delay to mandatory alcohol health labels Opens in new window ] MASLD is reversible with lifestyle changes, including a healthy diet and increased exercise, and weight-loss drugs have recently been shown to be effective at reversing scarring as well. 'If you stop the reason or the impetus for scarring and injury in the liver, then you're going to have less impetus for the development of cancer,' says Dr Rinella. There is no national liver cancer screening programme in Ireland, so it's important to talk to your doctor about surveillance if you have a liver disease such as hepatitis B or C, genetic haemochromatosis or liver cirrhosis, as the risk of liver cancer is higher. [ Parents facilitating a 16-year-old's 'prinks' is a sign of our weird relationship with alcohol Opens in new window ] Alcohol-related liver disease is also on the rise. In research published in July , Dr Lee and his colleagues showed that the risk of alcohol-related liver disease among heavy drinkers (at least 10 drinks per week for women and 15 for men) in the United States more than doubled between 1999 and 2020, despite similar alcohol use over that period. That suggests that heavy drinkers today may be more sensitive to the effects of alcohol on the liver than those in the past, Dr Lee said. In Ireland, while average alcohol consumption per adult has shown signs of falling, the incidence of binge drinking continues to be pronounced. Drinking heavily and having a metabolic condition such as obesity can independently damage the liver, but patients who fall in both categories are at an especially high risk. These trends are likely to continue. 'Alcohol use is increasing,' says Dr Rinella. 'Obesity and diabetes are increasing.' 'I expect that we're going to continue to see a high burden of liver disease,' she added. – This article originally appeared in the New York Times
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
State to provide free counselling sessions for men with mental health concerns
A new €2 million scheme to provide up to 15,000 free counselling sessions for men with mental health concerns is to be launched by the Government. It will fund supports which will be made available through GPs and will include a national marketing campaign targeting men directly from next month. While males have often been reluctant to discuss mental health issues, it is hoped the scheme will make it easier to seek help. It will provide access to a range of new talk therapies and counselling supports specifically aimed at men. It is hoped the finding will help reduce the stigma often associated with mental health and encourage men who otherwise would not usually avail of counselling to reach out for help. According to the Central Statistics Office, 449 people died by suicide in Ireland in 2021 and of these 359 (80%) were men compared to 90 (20%) of such deaths among women. It is believed the real figures are much higher as the deaths of all those who take their own lives are not always confirmed as suicide. Minister of State with responsibility for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler Minister for Mental Health, Mary Butler said the initiative is part of the national approach to mental health policy implementation, Sharing the Vision – A Mental Health Policy for Everyone, and Connecting for Life, Ireland's strategy for suicide prevention, She added: 'This is a much-needed initiative to widen access to supports for men, from mental health promotion activities, right through to counselling services and specialist support. 'These new supports will be made available to every GP in the country for direct signposting to men during consultations. 'They will also be available directly to men through our HSE helpline and website and promoted in a targeted national marketing campaign beginning from September 2025. 'More than ever, it is essential that men feel that they can reach out, to access the services and support that they need and deserve, or simply equip them with the confidence to talk to family and friends.' Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
