A settlement of compensation for a teenager´s birth injury has been approved in court after a judge agreed it would be difficult to prove full liability.
Emma O´Donnell (16) from Aklow in County Wicklow was born at the National Maternity Hospital on 9th June 1998. Hours after her birth by suction, Emma started to have seizures and turned blue. She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and has been cared for solely by her father – James Forde – since her natural mother was institutionalised in 2007 suffering from a significant bi-polar condition.
Emma needs round-the-clock care, suffers from an intellectual disability and has behavioural problems. On her behalf, James Forde made a claim for compensation for a teenager´s birth injury, but encountered difficulties establishing causation between the treatment Emma had received and negligence before and after her birth.
Emma´s solicitors had attempted to recover €9 million in compensation for the teenager´s birth injury, but the hospital and Health Service Executive placed value on the claim at €6 million – and only then if full proof of negligence could be established. Eventually a compromise was agreed in which the claim would be settled for €3 million provided it was approved by a judge.
Consequently, at the High Court in Dublin, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns was told the tragic case of Emma´s life to date. He heard that the case had been brought so late in Emma´s life due to difficulties with liability and that the hospital had provided a letter of consent to a settlement of compensation for a teenager´s birth injury amounting to €3 million.
Judge Kearns agreed with Emma´s solicitors that it would be a hard case to prove if the claim went to a full hearing, and he approved the settlement of compensation for a teenager´s birth injury – describing the care that had been provided by James Forde as “heroic”.