Month: December 2021

A hospital has apologised for the “failings in care” for a young mother who died of sepsis on Christmas Day three years ago.

Karen McEvoy was only 24 and had given birth to her third child at the Coombe maternity hospital in Dublin just a week before.

Her family, including her partner Barry Kelly and their children Toby (3), Jake (6), and Ruby (2), today settled their High Court actions over her death.

Speaking afterwards outside the Four Courts, Mr Kelly said Karen was an amazing young woman and mother.

“Her death was completely preventable had she been properly treated and cared for by the Coombe Hospital. Instead, she was wrongly diagnosed with sciatica when in fact she had sepsis,” he said.

Mr Kelly, who was engaged to Ms McEvoy at the time of her death, added: “No amount of money will ever change anything for myself and our three children.”

Flanked by his legal team Esther Earley BL and solicitor Niamh O’Brien, he said: “Hopefully our loss will increase the awareness of sepsis in maternity hospitals in the country.”

Ms McEvoy from Blessington, Co Wicklow, gave birth to her third child Ruby on December 18, 2018 but became ill and complained of lower back and abdominal pain in the days after. She died on Christmas Day 2018, having developed maternal sepsis and septic shock secondary to infection.

The letter of apology to Mr Kelly from the master of the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Professor Michael O’Connell, was read to the High Court. It expressed sincere apologies to Mr Kelly and his three children “for our failings in care afforded to Ms McEvoy at this hospital on December 23, 2018”.

It added: “I fully accept that these failings should not have happened. I can’t begin to imagine the consequences of Karen’s sad loss on you, Jake, Toby, Ruby, your extended family and Karen’s family.

“We in the Coombe are truly sorry for the distress that Karen’s death has caused.”

Liability was admitted in the cases and the settlements in the actions over Ms McEvoy’s death and for nervous shock were reached after mediation.

The details of the settlements are confidential but the court heard very substantial compensation was involved.

The family’s counsel, Richard Kean SC, told the court liability was admitted in the tragic case. He said it was a “calamitous event” in the lives of the Kellys and McEvoys and Mr Kelly had been left without the woman he loved, whom he planned to marry.

“It is an appalling tragedy and our experts would say that if Karen got a modicum of treatment she would have made an uneventful recovery,” counsel said.

Approving the settlements, which include the statutory mental distress payment of €35,000, Mr Justice Paul Coffey conveyed his deepest sympathy to the families on their tragic loss.

Karen’s son, Jake Kelly of Redbog, Blessington, Co Wicklow, had through his father sued the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin.

The six-year old boy had sued on his own behalf and on behalf of his family including his brother Toby (3) and two-year-old Ruby and extended family.

Ms McEvoy was admitted to the Coombe Hospital on December 18, 2018 and she had her baby girl, Ruby just before 6am. Mother and baby were discharged from hospital the next day but Karen became increasingly unwell.

On December 23, she went back to the Coombe with her baby daughter for routine screening of the baby and it was claimed she relayed her own complaints and was advised to attend the hospital emergency department.

She attended the emergency department complaining of severe back and abdominal pain and feeling generally unwell. It was claimed Ms McEvoy was not admitted to hospital and she was discharged without her condition having been diagnosed.

On Christmas Day, Ms McEvoy’s condition was very grave and she was transferred by ambulance to Naas General Hospital. She arrived at the hospital after midday and died before 4pm from multi-organ failure with septicaemia due to an infection.

It was claimed, among other things, there was a failure to provide any adequate treatment to Ms McEvoy and that she was caused to contract the Group A streptococcus infection.

There was also an alleged failure to heed complaints by Ms McEvoy prior to her discharge on December 19 and a failure to carry out an accurate assessment or investigation of her prior to her discharge.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/hospital-apologises-for-young-mothers-completely-preventable-death-from-sepsis-a-week-after-birth-of-third-child-41081189.html

A 14-year-old boy with cerebral palsy has settled his High Court action for a record €30m over the circumstances of his birth at a Galway hospital.

Oran Molloy from Birr, Co Offaly has spastic diplegia which affects all four limbs.

Oran’s Counsel Denis McCullough SC told the court the boy’s settlement which was reached after mediation is the largest recovery of damages in a birth injury case in this jurisdiction. The mediation talks counsel said were “protracted and difficult”.

Counsel said when he was five years old, Oran had surgery in the US which was financed by local fundraising and he could then take some steps with crutches. However, his mobility has since lessened.

The court heard under the settlement agreement he will have a special needs assistant at school. Oran hopes to become an electrical engineer.

He had sued the HSE over injuries suffered during his birth at Portiuncula University Hospital, Ballinasloe, Co Galway on December 31, 2006.

Liability was admitted in the case last month.

Outside court Gillian O’Connor, solicitor on behalf of Oran’s parents Adrian and Deirdre Molloy, said while €30m was a lot of money “the Molloys would give it back in a heartbeat” if only the night of the December 31 when Oran was born and injured at birth “could be changed and the errors erased”.

Ms O’Connor said they had asked for an annual payment linked to wage inflation but this was refused and so the Molloys were obliged to go for a lump sum.

“This is the highest award but justifiably so and is about €12m more than what is normally awarded,” she said.

This was because it represents in the Molloy legal team’s view a negative real rate of return of minus 1.5pc and not up to plus 1.5pc which was determined in the Irish courts seven years ago, she said.

The case of Oran Molloy, the court previously heard, is likely to have far-reaching implications for other similar cases and in particular in relation to the rate of return.

Oran, of Riverstown, Birr, Co Offaly had, through his mother, sued the HSE over the circumstances of his birth at Portiuncula on December 31, 2006.

Ms Molloy’s pregnancy was initially uncomplicated but in November 2006, she suffered an antepartum haemorrhage and was admitted to hospital. After a scan was noted to be healthy, the mother was advised to rest.

Ms Molloy was assessed on a weekly basis after her discharge from hospital.

On December 30, Ms Molloy had another haemorrhage and was taken by ambulance to hospital where CTG monitoring of the baby’s heartbeat was begun. She was brought to the labour ward.

Ms Molloy suffered another antepartum haemorrhage at around 2.30am on December 31and a decision to have an emergency caesarean section was made.

When delivered, Oran was noted to be flat and he required intensive resuscitation with intubation and ventilation.

It was claimed there was a failure to carry out any proper monitoring of Ms Molloy and her baby in the course of her labour and delivery and the CTG trace was discontinued when it ought not to have done so.

It was further claimed an unsafe set of conditions was allowed to persist during the course of labour and it should have been known it would cause damage and injury to baby Oran.

It was also claimed that having regard to the non-reassuring features of the CTG traces and Ms Molloy’s clinical presentation, a conservative management of the mother took place and followed a very relaxed approach to the issue of foetal monitoring and the delivery of the baby,

There was also, it was claimed, a failure to recognise the baby was suffering with severe hypoxic ischaemia as a result of prolonged foetal distress and to deal with it in a proper and timely manner, or at all.

Mr Justice Paul Coffey said he had little hesitation in approving the settlement and conveyed his best wishes to Oran and his parents.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/boy-with-cerebral-palsy-who-sued-over-circumstances-of-his-birth-settles-case-for-record-30m-41062196.html

A court has ruled that a 39-year-old unemployed woman is not entitled to financial support from her retired father.

The woman lives in Rome with her mother, who sought €900 per month in alimony from her husband, who separated from her and moved out of the family home in 2013.

The case came to Italy’s Supreme Court after a lower court agreed the husband should pay €300 per month plus medical costs from his €1,200 monthly pension.

The Supreme Court said the lower courts had failed to take into account that the woman had a professional qualification and had turned down work, The Times reports.

Matilde Cozzolino, the lawyer representing the father, said: “Someone who has finished their studies and has a professional qualification cannot expect a parent, particularly an elderly one, to continue to be burdened with the maintenance of a more than adult child.”

https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/and-finally-pensioned-off