The family of an 82-year-old man who died 15 days after he was admitted to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, where he spent 12 hours in A&E before referral for surgery, has secured €119,500 in settlement of its High Court action. The settlement is without any admission of liability.
The hospital had, in a letter from its solicitors for the purposes of the action, admitted that the delay in assessing, diagnosing and treating Arthur Phillips in the A&E on July 12th, 2001, fell below the requisite standard of care.
However, it denied that the delay caused or contributed to the death of Mr Phillips.
It was claimed Mr Phillips, a father of seven with 18 grandchildren, Rosemount Avenue, Artane, Dublin, had a perforated ulcer when admitted to Beaumont by ambulance after collapsing at his home, but that "nothing was done about it" and he was only referred for surgery 12 hours after he was first admitted to A&E.
The Phillips family had claimed that the hospital was negligent in that it allegedly failed to correctly monitor Mr Phillips and to correctly evaluate his symptoms.
Dr John O'Mahony SC, for the family, said Mr Phillips's abdomen had become distended throughout the day of his admission and his family believed he looked like a a nine months pregnant woman.
This was symptomatic of a perforated ulcer and the diagnosis that took place in A&E of a possible stroke was "miles away" from the reality, Dr O'Mahony said.
In its defence, the hospital denied that Mr Phillips's death was due to any negligence on its part or any delay in its treatment of him. It pleaded that death was caused by the underlying medical condition of Mr Phillips at the time of his presentation to the hospital.
In announcing the settlement to Mr Justice Michael Hanna, Dr O'Mahony said it was a very sad case. Mr Phillips was admitted at 6.40am to the A&E and underwent a number of tests.
By 6.30pm, he was very unwell and was assessed and transferred to surgery where he was found to have peritonitis from a perforated duodenal ulcer. He had collapsed with septic shock and had to be resuscitated, with a plan to transfer him to operating theatre a few hours later.
Mr Phillips did not get to the theatre until 2.30am because another patient with a ruptured spleen had to be taken urgently, Dr O'Mahony said. When he had his operation, Mr Phillips was found to have a perforated ulcer. He died 15 days later.
The observation of Mr Phillips in the hospital A&E was "clearly neglectful" and there was a catalogue of omissions and inordinate and unacceptable delay from which serious consequences flowed, Dr O'Mahony argued.
The settlement included a denial of liability but the hospital had, for the purposes of the action, admitted in a letter from its solicitors that the delay in assessing, diagnosing and treating Mr Phillips fell below the requisite standard of care.
It denied that the delay caused or contributed to his death.