The High Court has approved an interim settlement of €1.5 million compensation for the delayed delivery of a young girl who now has cerebral palsy due to the hospital´s alleged negligence.
Mary Malee (14) was born on 11th October 1999 by emergency Caesarean section at the Mayo General Hospital after there had been a delay in finding a consultant gynaecologist to assist with the delivery and an alleged breakdown in communicating her foetal distress.
As a result of the hospital´s alleged negligence, Mary is confined to a wheelchair after being born with cerebral palsy and now needs full-time support from her family. Despite her handicap, Mary is a bright and popular girl, who aims to go to university.
Mary made a compensation claim for the injuries she sustained through her mother – Maura Malee of Swinford, County Mayo – alleging that there had been a failure to intervene and perform a Caesarean section delivery in a timely manner when it became apparent that the foetus was suffering distress and likely to need resuscitation.
Mayo General Hospital and the Health Service Executive (HSE) both denied their liability for Mary´s cerebral palsy; but agreed to an interim settlement of compensation for a delayed delivery amounting to €1.5 million, with a further assessment of Mary´s needs to be conducted within two years.
At the High Court, Ms Justice Mary Irvine heard that Maura Malee had attended the consultant gynaecologist who had delivered her three previous children three days before Mary was born. The gynaecologist had informed Maura that he would be unavailable for Mary´s delivery, as he was about to undergo treatment for cancer. However, he had told Maura that arrangements would be made for her to be transferred to another consultant.
Maura saw her family doctor the following day, and he told Maura to go to hospital immediately as she was showing symptoms of pre-eclampsia. Maura was admitted to Mayo General Hospital and transferred to the labour ward, where she underwent a CTG shortly before 6:00am which revealed a series of decelerations.
The first consultant that was called was unavailable to attend Mary´s birth, and second consultant arrived shortly before 7:00am. Allegedly there was a failure to communicate the severity of Maura´s condition, and the Caesarean delivery did not take place until after 7:20am.
In court, after Mary had read out a statement in which she commented “It would have been appreciated had the HSE/Mayo General Hospital said they were sorry”, Judge Irvine approved the interim settlement of compensation for a delayed delivery and adjourned the case.