Mother says she was not told of birth defect risk

A MOTHER of two who suffers from depression has alleged in the High Court she was never advised by consultant psychiatrist Prof Patricia Casey or a gynaecologist to cease taking a prescription drug on grounds it could cause birth defects in pregnancy.

Lisa Glynn McGillen said Prof Casey had prescribed the drug Epilim for her in April 1997 to stabilise her moods, and she continued taking that and other medication until about four months into her pregnancy with her daughter Rebecca, who was born in April 2001 and later diagnosed with Foetal Valporoate Syndrome.

She was never told Epilim, primarily for epilepsy but also used for depression, was a teratogenic drug (a drug that can affect the foetus), she said. Had she been told it was, she would have ceased taking it, she added.

Rebecca, now eight, has a hand deformity and balancing and other difficulties, the court has heard.

Ms McGillen, now aged 40, told her counsel Bruce Antoniotti SC yesterday that she was not told by either Prof Casey or her then gynaecologist, Dr Mary Holohan, she should cease taking Epilim.

She said Dr Holohan had told her the only drug she had to worry about was Lithium and, as she was on a high dose of folic acid, this would combat the effects of the anti-convulsant ingredient.

The day after Rebecca was born, Dr Holohan had told her the child’s difficulties were due to Ms McGillen having taken Epilim while pregnant, Ms McGillen said. She said nurses and others had treated her baby as if she were “a specimen in a laboratory”.

From scans during pregnancy, she knew there was a problem with the baby’s hand and growth but, while feeling “bleak”, she accepted it. She had asked that further scans be stopped because, in her mind, there was never a doubt that her baby had to be born.

She said she had received documents from Prof Casey both in 1998 and after she conceived relating to certain drugs and birth defects, but believed certain documents were not seen by her until after she had conceived. She had no recollection of seeing, prior to her pregnancy, a document on risks of exposure during pregnancy to the drug Lithium or relating to epilepsy drugs.

Cross-examined by Murray McGrath, for Prof Casey, she agreed she had been treated by Prof Casey for depression and other problems from 1994, and had a good relationship with her. She agreed Prof Casey had treated her with various drugs in an effort to see what worked best for her.

She was on Lithium from 1994 and Epilim from April 1997, the court heard. She agreed Epilim had resulted in an improvement in her condition.

She agreed she and her husband had a discussion with Prof Casey around April 1997 about her medication and other matters, including a possible pregnancy.

She could not remember Prof Casey advising her there would be a risk of her losing control over her illness if her medication was stopped and a possible risk to a baby if the medication were continued. She was not denying that was said, but could not recall what was said.

Yesterday was the second day of the action by Rebecca McGillen, suing through her father Barry, with an address at Gainsborough Avenue, Malahide, Co Dublin, against Prof Casey, practising from the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, and Dr Holohan, practising from the private clinic, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin. A separate action by Lisa McGillen may be heard later.

It is alleged Rebecca was exposed to a risk of injury as a result of alleged failure of the defendants to properly assess the nature and type of prescription drugs being taken before and after pregnancy by her mother.

In separate defences, both defendants deny the allegations.

The case continues today.