A family has secured a €7 million settlement of a High Court action over care provided to their son at two hospitals following his birth in 2008.
The teenager’s father became emotional when speaking about the family’s attempts to care for him. He suffered a brain injury and has complex needs.
The boy, now aged 17, has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, cannot speak and requires round-the-clock care.
The father told Mr Justice Paul Coffey on Thursday how he did not think “with the cost of everything” the €7 million settlement was enough.
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Speaking to the judge, the boy’s father said: “We don’t have home help or carers as the companies who have carers don’t have people with the expertise to look after our son. We don’t have family support because our parents are elderly and frail. This is it, we are on our own.”
He told the court he had made calculations for the future and he thought he could just stretch €10 million, but that the €7 million settlement was not enough.
“We are prepared to accept it. We will have to see what happens,” he told the court.
Mr Justice Coffey, who described the case as “sad and tragic”, was told there was a litigation risk in the action and the €7 million settlement offer was being recommended to the court. The settlement was without an admission of liability.
Neither the boy nor his family can be identified by order of the court.
The boy sued the HSE through his father over the care he received at Wexford General Hospital and sued Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) over the care he received at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin, after his birth in 2008.
It was claimed there was an alleged delay to diagnose and treat the baby’s necrotising enterocolitis, a disease affecting the intestine, at Wexford General Hospital.
There was also a subsequent alleged failure on the part of CHI Crumlin to provide adequate paediatric endocrine care after the baby was transferred there.
It was further claimed against the HSE there was an alleged failure to recognise that the baby was becoming systematically unwell and a delay in transferring him from Wexford to Dublin.
Against CHI Ireland at Crumlin, it was claimed there was an alleged delay in the diagnosis of the baby’s congenital hypopituitarism, a condition involving the pituitary gland, and treatment of the complications.
All claims were denied by both defendants. It was contended the management of the baby’s treatment was appropriate and consistent with a reasonable standard of care.
Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Coffey thanked the father for his words, which he said would resonate with him for a long time.
The judge said the teenager has great needs which will only increase as he gets older.
However, the judge said the litigation risk in the case was very considerable and if the case went ahead then teenager’s side could fail entirely or recover only a small fraction. As a result, he approved the €7 million settlement.
