Failure to Diagnose in Opera Singer Case costs HSE Over 2 Million Euros

by | Feb 22, 2011

Thirty six year old Elaine Lennon was an award-winning opera singer, with a bright future ahead of her both as a singer and as a recently qualified psychologist. However, in February 2007, she started suffering headaches during the pregnancy of her daughter Claudia, and attended the accident and emergency unit of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth.
There, Mr. Justice John Quirk heard at the High Court, she was diagnosed by a medical registrar as suffering from a urinary tract infection and referred to a midwife, who assessed she was about to give birth and ordered that Elaine underwent a Caesarean section to deliver Claudia.
Claudia was born a healthy baby, but the headaches and neck stiffness continued and Elaine failed to respond to antibiotics. Doctors at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital twice queried whether a CT scan of her brain should be performed but none was done, and Elaine and her baby were discharged a week after the birth.
Had a CT scan of Elaine´s brain been carried out at the time, doctors would have noticed an abscess which later burst into the ventricles. Instead, she attended her GP´s clinic at Castle Mill Medical Centre, Balbriggan, where Dr. Patrick Mathuna administered an injection which temporarily stopped the headaches and vomiting which had developed.
Dr. Mathuna called on Elaine several days later, determined that she was suffering from post-natal depression and prescribed a sedative. Later that day, she collapsed at home and was admitted to Our Lady of Lourdes Accident and Emergency Department by ambulance. The following morning, Elaine suffered two seizures after which a CT scan was performed which revealed the extent of Elaine´s illness.
Suing the Health Service Executive and Dr. Mathuna through her father, the court heard how Elaine formerly of Newhaven Bay, Balbriggan, County Dublin, is now confined to a wheelchair and can only speak in a whisper. She also requires 24 hour care due to the doctors failing to notice her brain injury.
Approving an interim compensation settlement of 2.39 million Euros, Mr. Justice John Quirke said that, were it not for her injuries, Elaine had the potential to make a lot of money in the future. Both the HSE and Dr. Mathuna admitted liability.

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