The High Court has approved a settlement of €300,000 for injuries suffered by a man after he fell 3.7m (12ft) from a hospital balcony window weeks after he came off a drugs trial which, it was claimed, he should never have been put on.
It was claimed the drugs trial caused Michael Purcell to suffer a relapse of schizophrenia and that he fell from the balcony while experiencing an acute schizophrenic episode when he was sleeping in a hospital corridor due to overcrowding.
Mr Purcell, of Menlough, Ballinasloe, Co Galway, had sued the Health Service Executive (HSE) through his sister, Breda O'Flaherty, as a result of the fall in April 1996. He also sued Pfizer Ltd, Pfizer Ireland Limited and a doctor, but yesterday's settlement was against the HSE only.
Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan approved settlement of €300,000 against the HSE, which also agreed to provide Mr Purcell with permanent residential care in a private nursing home on payment by him of €120 a week. An application will also be made later to have Mr Purcell made a ward of court.
In the proceedings, it was claimed that, in March 1996, Mr Purcell, then on medication for a psychiatric condition, was admitted on to a drug trial conducted at or under the auspices of St Brigid's Psychiatric Hospital, in Ballinasloe. At the time, Mr Purcell was on extensive medication for his psychiatric illness, it was claimed.
Patients being treated with anti-psychotic medication were required as part of the trial to be removed from their existing medication and transferred on to the trial drug (Ziprasidone) or a control drug (Haloperidol). It was claimed Mr Purcell was accepted on the trial until April 9th, 1996, when he was withdrawn with a deteriorating mental state.
On April 12th, 1996, he was admitted as a voluntary patient to St Brigid's hospital. A diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia was made.
It was claimed the deterioration in condition arose as a result of the withdrawal of existing medication or the taking of new medication as required by the drug trial.
Yesterday, Mr Michael Cush SC, for Mr Purcell, said his client should never have been entered in this drugs trial. He was told of some of the risks but not properly told of the contraindications.
On April 26th, because of overcrowding, Mr Purcell was sleeping in a hospital corridor. The door to the balcony was unlocked. In an acute schizophrenic episode, he fell from the balcony to the ground below after he went on to the first-floor verandah believing the hospital was on fire.
As a result of the fall, it was claimed he suffered a compression fracture in the lumbar spine and was transferred to the Mater hospital. He returned to St Brigid's in May of 1996 and stayed there until mid-January 1997.
Counsel said Mr Purcell was in and out of hospital and, four years ago, had suffered decreased mobility and developed a stoop.