Sir, – Our son, Tadgh Costello, was born on May 25th, 2006, at Kerry General Hospital. During the course of the labour, an emergency Caesarean section was required, but significant delay arose in carrying it out. Tadgh was , after some unnecessary delay, born by Caesarean section in an extremely poor condition. He was ultimately diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy.
Had Tadgh been delivered just 30 minutes sooner, experts advised us that he would have been uninjured.
As a result of the delay in delivering Tadhg, he is epileptic, intellectually compromised, wheelchair dependent, non-verbal, doubly incontinent, peg-tube fed and reliant on others for his every need.
Six weeks after Tadgh’s delivery, we met the consultant obstetrician we retained, who acknowledged that the CTG was miscategorised, thereby causing the delay and injury. That was 2006. The doctor verbally acknowledged that he caused the injury. The HSE denied it. Tadgh did not get an admission of liability from the HSE until 2015. During that time, Tadgh’s case was with the State Claims Agency.
Thereafter, we spent nine years investigating and later, following receipt of expert reports confirming negligence, taking Tadgh’s case against the HSE.
Our solicitors wrote directly to the obstetrician and the HSE, calling for an honest and open explanation and admission of liability. No response whatsoever was received.
High Court proceedings were served. The HSE and State Claims Agency filed a full defence, denying every allegation made.
Shortly before the trial, our solicitors wrote to the HSE’s solicitors, and noted that the trial was imminent. Our legal advisers, Ernest J Cantillon Solicitors, recalled the admission of liability made by the consultant, and queried how the HSE and the State Claims Agency could continue to deny liability. Our solicitors warned that unless liability was conceded, punitive damages would be sought. This letter had, at last, the desired effect, because just weeks before the trial date, the HSE withdrew its defence, and we received the admission of liability in relation to Tadhg’s injury.
We never received an explanation as to why it took so many years for the truth to emerge.
We are of the view that if we did not have the courage to proceed with this case, liability would never have been admitted, and Tadgh would never have been compensated.
The delay in meeting this case in a timely fashion by the HSE and State Claims Agency not only caused unnecessary stress and ongoing financial risk for our family, but it caused significant suffering to Tadhg himself. An earlier settlement would have provided us with funds to buy equipment and therapies that would have made Tadgh’s life so much easier.
When a child, such as Tadgh, is injured in hospital through negligence, doctors know it, nurses know it, the risk managers know of it. Sometimes the parents suspect it, but they do not know it. In this case, it took almost a decade for the State Claims Agency to admit liability. Why?
Our experience in relation to the handling of Tadhg's case by the State Claims Agency was the opposite to what Ciarán Breen, the director of the State Claims Agency, in his letter to you (September 23rd), has professed to be that State's agency's standard policy.
We had grit and determination to fight a long battle for our son, but we do understand how easy it would have been to back down, given the nine-year “war of attrition” we were met with by both the HSE and the State Claims Agency.
In the aftermath of the court hearing, the HSE said it did not understand why it took nine years to admit liability in this case.
In other words, the HSE and Kerry General Hospital did not understand why the State Claims Agency took so many years to do the decent thing. – Yours, etc,
GERARD
and MARY COSTELLO,
Killorglin,
Co Kerry.