A High Court judge has found the Coombe Women´s Hospital in Dublin negligent in a catastrophic birth injury claim brought against it by a ten-year-old boy.
The claim for catastrophic birth injury compensation was made by Fiona Murphy of Malahide, County Dublin, on behalf of her son Eoin (10) following the events of his birth on 12th July 2002.
Eoin had been born suffering from near total acute hypoxic ischaemia which an investigation into the catastrophic birth injury claim determined had begun two or three minutes before he was delivered.
However, rather than resuscitating Eoin within minutes of his birth, a delay of seventeen minutes occurred due to a paediatric registrar not being available and, as a consequence, Eoin sustained irreversible brain damage and now suffers from severe dyskinetic cerebral palsy .
At the High Court, Ms Justice Mary Irvine said that, had the hospital acted with reasonable care for Eoin’s welfare, there was no reason why he should not have been effectively ventilated by the time he was nine minutes old which would have prevented his injuries from occurring.
Finding the Coombe Women’s and Infants’ University Hospital liable for Eoin´s injuries, the judge said “the delay was unacceptable and the hospital was negligent in failing to ensure the child received the type of intubation and ventilation mandated in the first 10 minutes of his life”.
Eoin´s catastrophic birth injury claim has now been adjourned for the assessment of damages.
UPDATE May 2013: Eoin was awarded an interim settlement of €1.9 million in compensation for catastrophic birth injuries in May 2013, with his case adjourned for a further two years when a review of his future requirements will be conducted.