Courts

Man (20) with brain damage settles for €14.5m over incorrectly reported heel prick test

High Court judge describes case as ‘tragic and heartbreaking’ and says damage was preventable

In the proceedings it was claimed there was a failure to properly test the baby’s heel pin prick sample and a failure to manage the national screening laboratory to an appropriate standard.
In the proceedings it was claimed there was a failure to properly test the baby’s heel pin prick sample and a failure to manage the national screening laboratory to an appropriate standard.
Tue Oct 22 2024 - 16:39

A 20-year-old man with irreversible brain damage despite a heel pin prick test being incorrectly reported as normal has settled a High Court action for €14.5 million.

His senior counsel, Pearse Sreenan, told the High Court the pin prick test was taken under the national newborn screening programme in the days after birth. By the time the real diagnosis of a metabolic disorder was made two years later, it was too late, he said.

Mr Sreenan told the court liability was admitted in the case but causation remained an issue.

The baby’s mother was concerned her son was missing his milestones so went to doctors 38 times in the first two years of his life before more tests were done and a correct diagnosis was made.

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Counsel said that if the condition had been diagnosed when the baby first had the test in 2004, the appropriate treatment would have been a specific diet for life but when it is not picked up, it causes irreversible cognitive impairment. The young man now requires 24-hour care.

Mr Justice Paul Coffey, who directed that the boy or his condition not be identified, praised his family for their commitment.

The judge - who described it as a “a tragic and heartbreaking” case - expressed sympathy to the family and said that if “so simple a test were performed correctly the boy and his family would have been spared all this”.

Outside court, the family solicitor Melanie Power said the man can now avail of the supports that have been out of his reach up to now.

She said that with each week that passed from birth, as his condition went undiagnosed, the diet the baby was consuming caused irreparably neurological injury.

“Something as wholesome as a baby’s milk bottle caused toxins to build up resulting in permanent injury,” she said.

At one stage during their long legal case, the family became homeless and had to rely on the charity of other family members, she said.

She said the mother’s pleas for a house from the local authority went unanswered.

The boy’s family sued the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Temple Street, Dublin, which was responsible for the diagnostic testing of the boy’s blood sample.

In an apology read to the court, CHI interim chief executive Fiona Murphy on behalf of CHI Temple Street and its staff expressed sincere apologies “for the failings that caused the injuries” to the boy.

“The hospital and its staff regret the tragic consequences for him and his family we do not underestimate the impact this has had on his life,” it said.

In the proceedings it was claimed there was a failure to properly test the baby’s heel pin prick sample and a failure to manage the national screening laboratory to an appropriate standard.

It was further claimed there was a failure to properly diagnose the baby’s condition in a timely fashion and there was poor analytical performance in the operation of the screening programme and that the mother had been wrongly informed that the baby did not have the metabolic condition.