A 49-year-old woman who claims she was left with distorted vision in one eye after an alleged delay in the diagnosis of a retinal detachment has sued in the High Court.
Lisa Hayes, a mother of three from Togher, Cork, claims that she now has difficulty doing a variety of household work, doesn’t drive, and when out shopping, finds it hard to identify prices and products.
Hayes has sued the out-of-hours medical service SouthDoc Services Ltd, with registered offices at High Street, Killarney, Co Kerry, and two GPs, over the care received four years ago.
The doctors are Mehboob Kukaswadia of St Mary’s Health Campus, Baker Road, Gurranabraher, Cork city who was on duty with SouthDoc, and her family GP, Brendan O’Regan of Donnybrook, Douglas, Cork.
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Dr John White, counsel for Hayes with Cian O’Mahony, and instructed by solicitor Denis O’Sullivan, told the court it was their case that there was an alleged delay in the diagnosis of a retinal detachment in the left eye, and this allegedly resulted in a delay in surgical intervention. All of the claims are denied.
In the proceedings, it is claimed that on May 5th, 2022, Hayes woke up with several symptoms, including left eye and lip drooping, severe left-sided headache and eye and throat swelling on the left side. There was also a small shadow in her left eye, but this had a negligible effect on her vision at that time.
She telephoned the surgery of her family GP, outlined her symptoms and said she required an urgent telephone or in-person consultation. She was told her call would be returned later in the day, but it is claimed that there was no phone call, and at 7.30pm she phoned SouthDoc seeking a consultation.
At 9pm, it is claimed Kukaswadia, who was working with SouthDoc, phoned her and advised her she should come into the SouthDoc surgery immediately.
Counsel told the court that at the consultation, the doctor placed a finger on her left eyelid and said she did not have Bell’s Palsy and put a spatula on her tongue and that she was not suffering a stroke. She was prescribed a painkiller and told to contact her family doctor.
Counsel said Hayes went home, took the mediation, “pulled the blinds down and waited for the problem to go away”.
However, counsel said by May 7th the vision in her left eye had seriously deteriorated. He said Hayes went to her optician, who referred her to Cork University Hospital with suspected retina detachment. At that stage, counsel said Hayes could only see hand movements.
In hospital it was discovered that Hayes had a horseshoe tear in her left eye with detachment, and she had surgery the next day on May 8th.
Counsel said it is their case that surgery should have taken place on May 5th when Hayes presented to doctors with her symptoms. He said O’Regan apologised to Hayes, and when she visited him days after her surgery, he offered her the next three visits to be free of charge.
Counsel said the doctor put his hand on Hayes’s shoulder and said: “I hope that we don’t fall out over this. Your next three visits are free.”
The case, before Judge Leonie Reynolds, is expected to last three weeks.
