The High Court has approved a €4.7 million settlement, plus costs, for a young boy who suffered irreversible brain injuries due to the alleged failure to administer Vitamin K to him at his birth at the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork.
The settlement for Colm Daly, now aged 10, the youngest of six children, was made without admission of liability. An application will be made later to have Colm made a ward of court.
Colm, through his mother Marie, of Southbury Road, Summerstown Estate, Glasheen, Cork, had sued Bon Secours Health System Ltd over alleged negligence in the circumstances of the child's birth at the hospital on June 16th, 2000.
The court heard Colm's was a difficult birth as the umbilical cord had ruptured and had to be clamped and midwives had to deal with that about 5.20am prior to an obstetrician's arrival. It was alleged the hospital had created a note to the effect
Vitamin K, necessary for blood clotting, was administered to Colm via injection at birth when his mother and father - who was also present at the birth - claimed it was not.
The court was told babies are deficient in Vitamin K and thus susceptible to bleeding disorders but that risk can be avoided through Vitamin K injections at birth. That was normal practice at the Bon Secours hospital at the time Colm was born, it was claimed.
Colm was a "perfectly healthy baby" at birth but, some 30 days later, on Friday July 14th 2000 as the family were on a weekend away, he began vomiting, Liam Reidy SC, for the child, said yesterday. When he continued to be unwell, he was brought back to the hospital on Monday, July 17th.
It emerged a small blood vessel in the child's brain had burst; there was a bleed in the brain and blood continued to trickle over that weekend. It later emerged there was no coagulation of his blood at all.
Colm was given a Vitamin K injection and his blood developed coagulation quality within eight hours, Mr Reidy said. He was later operated on at another hospital but, it was claimed, the damage was already done before that.
Mr Reidy said the child was "catastrophically injured" and has profound and lifelong intellectual and behaviour problems. Colm also suffered uncontrollable epilepsy with hourly seizures which drugs could not control but his parents brought it under control within 18 months by placing him on a very strict diet, on which he remains. The side-effect is the child is always hungry, counsel said.
Because Colm is from a family of significant academic achievement, there was evidence, had he not suffered these injuries, he would have had a professional career, counsel added. Due to his learning difficulties and challenging behaviour, an educational psychologist believed Colm would have no earning capacity.
Mr Reidy said Colm's parents Marie, a teacher, and Diarmaid, a psychiatric nurse, ad had a "very long journey" since been told by the hospital what happened to Colm was "just one of those events".
The parents never got "a satisfactory answer" from consultants here about the cause of Colm's injuries but eventually got the hospital notes of the birth which stated Colm received a Vitamin K injection when they knew he had not, he said.
An expert in Bristol later told them Colm's disabilities were due to bleeding associated with the absence in his blood of Vitamin K, Mr Reidy said.
Susie Elliott, solicitor for Colm, had from 2003 to 2010 assembled a worldwide array of expert witnesses to testify Colm's injuries were due to Vitamin K deficiency but the hospital had advanced "far-fetched" alternative theories not associated with
any negligence on its part, counsel said.
An expert from Edinburgh Hospital had told the court, irrespective of the hospital's notes asserting Colm had received a Vitamin K injection, it was "highly unlikely" that had happened. That had led to a settlement offer being made for the first time today, Mr Reidy added.
Mr Justice Vivian Lavan said the parents had been through "a very tough time" and he was happy to approve the settlement.
In a statement afterwards, the parents said they were "very pleased and also relieved to have finally arrived at this successful conclusion for Colm" who is "the most precious little boy". They were relieved Colm can have what he so rightly deserves from now on and will be content and as comfortable as possible, they said.
They said they have "been blessed with the love and support of some unparalleled individuals" and expressed "heartfelt thanks and gratitude" to their five other children, Colm's carer Catherine Kelly, his special needs assistant Susannah Perfura, their
families, friends and solicitor Susie Elliott of Cantillons.
Colm attends Glasheen Boy's National School and manages to stay in mainstream school thanks to the dedication of the principal Michael Daly, teachers and staff, they added.
