The mother of a 12-year-old boy who died after allegedly being stabbed by another boy in a row over a dog cage has secured €118,500 in settlement of her High Court action against a doctor and the East Coast Area Health Board.
It was alleged that Dr Nicholas Byrne had failed to properly establish the extent of the stab wounds inflicted on Jonathan Kelly and that he should have, but failed, to immediately arrange for the child to be transferred to hospital.
Breda Kelly, mother of the deceased boy - Jonathan Kelly, of Ocean View, Wicklow town - had sued Dr Byrne, who practises at Westmount Clinic, Church Hill, Wicklow, and the East Coast Area Health Board for alleged negligence and breach of duty arising from the death of her son in September 2000. Both defendants denied the claims.
The settlement of the proceedings, made without any admission of liability by either defendant, was approved yesterday by Mr Justice John Quirke.
In her statement of claim, Ms Kelly said Jonathan had attended Dr Byrne's surgery at Westmount Clinic on September 22nd/23rd, 2000. He had been stabbed in the back by another child during an altercation near his home and had been brought by his older brother and a friend of the family to the doctor's surgery for treatment, she said.
It was alleged that as a consequence of the alleged negligence by the defendant, Jonathan sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at 12.15am on September 23rd at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Dublin.
It was alleged Dr Byrne failed to properly establish the extent of the stab wounds to the deceased and allowed an inordinate delay between the arrival of Ms Kelly to his surgery and the transferring of Jonathan to a hospital.
It was alleged that the doctor left the deceased unattended in a surgery while going to make a house call.
It was also alleged that the defendant had decided to suture the wound and keep the deceased under observation at the surgery instead of transferring him immediately to a hospital and had allegedly failed to take any or adequate steps to ascertain the true nature or the extent of the knife wound to the deceased. This, it was claimed, caused a delay in transfer of the deceased to a hospital such that the deceased died as a consequence.
The doctor had indicated to Jonathan and his mother that the boy was all right and fit to go home, it was also claimed.
It was alleged against the East Coast Area Health Board that it caused or allowed an inordinate delay to occur between the arrival of the deceased at Loughlinstown hospital, Co Dublin, and his transfer to Our Lady's hospital in Crumlin.
The board had failed to ensure that the boy was immediately transferred to Our Lady's hospital, it was claimed.