A blood donor who claims she is in constant pain after being jabbed by a needle in a nerve instead of in a blood vessel has taken a High Court action for damages for alleged negligence against the Blood Transfusion Service Board.
Ms Helen Power (59), a nurse's aide, of Crainn Ard, Blackberry Lane, Newbridge, Co Kildare, said she was told by a doctor when she complained about the pain during the course of giving blood: "It'll be all right, Mrs."
However, the pain did not go away and today the slightest touch to her forearm was painful, Ms Power said. She had to wear short-sleeved clothes all year round and was unable to put both arms around her husband.
She told Mr Justice Johnson she went to give a donation at the board's mobile clinic in Newbridge on January 26th, 1995. She said the doctor inserted a needle in her arm at a place never before used for blood extraction. She had been a frequent donor for many years.
When the blood failed to flow after insertion, the doctor kept the needle inside her arm and searched around for a vein before getting blood, she said. The pain from her arm to her thumb was like an electric shock.
Six months later, although still in pain, she again went to donate blood but the doctor at the clinic refused to accept her blood after hearing what had occurred on the last occasion and about the pain she was in. He gave her a note for her family doctor.
As a result of her disability, she had to give up swimming and step-dancing and she had to avoid heavy gardening work. She used one hand to do her household chores. Despite what had happened, she said the BTSB continued to send her cards inviting her to donate blood.
Dr J.A. Finnegan, a consultant neurophysiologist from Birmingham, England, said there was no explanation for Ms Power's pain other than a nerve being impaled by an instrument. When informed of the pain, the doctor should have immediately withdrawn the needle, he said.
Ms Power was part of a rare group of people who had severe nerve injury, the effect of which was permanent, he said. There was no prospect of spontaneous improvement. If the needle had been withdrawn when Ms Power complained, it was most likely the effect on her would have been minimal.
The case continues next Tuesday.