€4.7m settlement for brain-injured boy

THE HIGH Court has approved a €4.7 million settlement, plus costs, for a young boy who suffered irreversible brain injuries due to the alleged failure to administer Vitamin K to him at his birth at the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork.

The settlement for Colm Daly, now aged 10, the youngest of six children, was made without admission of liability.

An application will be made later to have Colm made a ward of court.

Colm, through his mother Marie, of Southbury Road, Summerstown Estate, Glasheen, Cork, had sued Bon Secours Health System over alleged negligence in the circumstances of the child’s birth at the hospital on June 16th 2000.

The court heard Colm’s was a difficult birth as the umbilical cord had ruptured and had to be clamped.

Midwives had to deal with that at about 5.20am before an obstetrician’s arrival.

It was alleged that the hospital had created a note to the effect that Vitamin K, necessary for blood clotting, was administered to Colm via injection at birth. His mother and father – who was also present at the birth – claimed it was not.

The court was told babies are deficient in Vitamin K and thus susceptible to bleeding disorders but that risk could be avoided through Vitamin K injections at birth.

That was normal practice at the Bon Secours hospital at the time Colm was born, it was claimed.

Colm was a “perfectly healthy baby” at birth but, some 30 days later, on Friday July 14th 2000, as the family was on a weekend away, he began vomiting, Liam Reidy SC, for the child, said yesterday.

When he continued to be unwell, he was brought back to the hospital on Monday July 17th.

It emerged a small blood vessel in the child’s brain had burst, there was bleeding in the brain which continued over that weekend. It later emerged there was no coagulation of his blood.

Colm was given a Vitamin K injection and his blood developed coagulation quality within eight hours, Mr Reidy said.

He was later operated on at another hospital but, it was claimed, the damage was already done.

In a statement afterwards, the parents said they were “very pleased and also relieved to have finally arrived at this successful conclusion for Colm who is “the most precious little boy”.

They were relieved Colm could have what he so rightly deserved from now on and would be content and as comfortable as possible, they said.

The family said they had “been blessed with the love and support of some unparalleled individuals” and expressed “heartfelt thanks and gratitude” to their five other children, Colm’s carer Catherine Kelly, his special needs assistant Susannah Perfura and their families and friends.

Colm attends Glasheen Boys National School and manages to stay in mainstream school thanks to the dedication of the principal Michael Daly, teachers and staff, they added.