Settlement to help paralysed boy and family face ‘daily challenges’

The parents of a 12-year-old boy who was left paralysed due to mismanagement of his meningitis at Wexford General Hospital said a settlement at the High Court on Tuesday will allow them get back to facing the “daily challenges” of caring for their son.

Matthew McGrath requires 24-hour care following events at the hospital on May 27th, 2004, when he was 17 months old. The HSE settled his claim for damages with an interim award of €3.7 million.

Speaking to reporters outside the Four Courts in Dublin, the boy’s mother Cathy McGrath read a prepared statement on behalf of the family, in which she said there was “a certain unexpected peace” in the HSE’s admittance of liability.

“Today signifies the end of the fight for us, but we’re still on the road we were on,” she said. “There is a certain unexpected peace in the admittance of liability for the error and damage caused. Life is still the same for us, but we don’t have to take on the system as well as dealing with the daily challenges of caring for Matthew.

“This ensures Matthew continues to receive the excellent care he has been receiving at home since 2006 without the worry of being subjected to budget cuts.”

Responding to questions after reading the statement, Ms McGrath described her son as “a personality in his own right”.

“He’s a great kid,” she said. “He enjoys life. We’ve had a long journey that has been going on for 11 years. It hasn’t just started and ended today. It won’t end today either.

“He goes everywhere. He’s mad into sport. He goes to all the rugby games. He’s a bit of a horseracing man as well, so it’s hard to keep him down.

“He’s five days a week now in a national mainstream school. They’re absolutely fantastic to him. He has great pals there who take great care of him and listen to all his rugby talk. He has two great sisters as well.”

Ms McGrath said her son spent two years in hospital and there was an eight month battle to bring him home. “He wasn’t stable for the whole two years he spent in hospital but once he was stabilised it took about eight months just to engage with the HSE, get him home, and get a good enough package so that we could care for him and carry on with normal family life,” she said.

“He has a lot of care so we had to get all that in place. Then you have a continual battle to keep that in place.”

She said having her son home was “the most important thing” and indicated a desire to now move on with their lives.

“That’s where a child deserves to be – at home with his family,” she said. “Obviously you have the challenges. It’s not insurmountable – it’s just challenges of daily care – and you just get on with them and you face them. You’re used to them as well.”

Matthew also spoke briefly to reporters and said he was “happy” with the outcome. He also said he was a Leinster rugby fan and gave special mention to Jamie Heaslip and Rob Kearney.