A woman who sued for damages over an allegedly botched breast augmentation operation has settled her High Court action.
Kate Murray (28) sued Italian consultant Marco Loiacano who was struck off by the Medical Council’s fitness-to-practise committee for misconduct in 2011 over the operation he carried out on her in 2008.
Two weeks after the procedure, she was admitted to hospital with a life-threatening infection and spent a month undergoing nine procedures and skin grafts, the committee heard.
Ms Murray, from Dún Laoghaire in Dublin, had also sued Cosmedico Clinic (Dublin) Ltd, trading as Cosmedico Surgery Clinic, Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, where the operation, costing €5,800, was carried out. She also sued surgeon Keith Robertson, who saw her at the clinic after the operation.
Yesterday, counsel for Ms Murray told the High Court the matter had been settled and an order for costs could be made against the clinic.
Indemnity
Counsel for the clinic asked for a strikeout of indemnity proceedings against Dr Robertson and Cosmedico. He also asked that similar indemnity proceedings between Dr Loiacano and the clinic be adjourned generally with liberty to re-enter. Ms Justice Mary Irvine made the orders and no details of the settlement were revealed.
The committee was told that within days of her operation on March 15th, 2008, Ms Murray began to suffer severe pain and oozing of fluid and she made repeated visits to the clinic before the implants were removed on March 31st.
Wound breakdown
She was treated at St Vincent’s hospital, Dublin, for wound breakdown and cellulitis. She had severe sepsis and was just a step away from necrosis fasciitis – the so-called flesh-eating infection, said consultant surgeon Denis Evoy.
Peter Meagher, St Vincent’s consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon, said Dr Loiacano’s treatment of Ms Murray was reckless in the extreme and she would be scarred for life.
Dr Loiacano, who left Cosmedico in 2009, was not in court yesterday and had not attended the fitness-to-practise hearing.