A WOMAN said to have the mental age of a four-year-old is to be paid £600,000 under a settlement approved by the High Court yesterday.
Mr Justice Lavan ordered the North Western Health Board to pay the £600,000 into court and that a payment of £15,000 from that sum be made to the woman's parents immediately.
The health board also gave an undertaking to provide the woman with all necessary medical and nursing care within a domestic environment appropriate to her needs.
Mr Patrick Geraghty SC, for Ms Rosaleen Gallagher, now aged 28, of Ballina Cottages, Falcarragh, Co Donegal, claimed that she suffered severe brain damage as a result of not being tested for an enzyme abnormality, known as phenylketonuric or PKU, when she was an infant.
An application to have the woman made a ward of court is to be made later.