HSE Pays 300,000 euro Settlement in Birth Injury Case

by | Dec 1, 2009

Daniel James O’Connell of Portlaoise, County Laois has secured a €300,000 in settlement from the Health Service Executive (HSE) of a High Court claim for alleged medical negligence in which his shoulder was damaged at birth.

The claim was against the Midland Health Board (now the HSE) and consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist John Conway.  O’Connell is 14 years old and was born in March 1995, which illustrates the time delay that is often associated with medical negligence claims because it is often necessary to determine the long term impact of any problems.

It should be noted that the settlement was without any admission of liability.  In fact, compared with some personal injury claims, it is fairly difficult to make a negligence claim for birth incidents because there is a natural level of risk involved.  The infant mortality rate in the Middle Ages in Europe prior to modern medicine was about 200 deaths per 1,000 live births.  The infant mortality rate in Ireland is less than 5 deaths per 1,000 live births, one of the lowest in the world.  Births are considered a ‘routine’ operation – and the standard procedures are extremely well defined.  But no matter how well the medical team performs, there are going to be a few dozen incidents in Ireland every year given the population size and birth rate.  The claimant typically needs to be able to prove that the medical team did not follow standard procedures and best practices or just made an obvious mistake.

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