THE parents and other relatives of a Drogheda woman who died three weeks after she gave birth to her daughter are to be paid £75,000 under a settlement approved by the High Court yesterday.
Ms Susan Caffrey (25) died at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, on October 22nd, 990, nearly three weeks after her daughter Suzanne was born.
At a previous High Court hearing, permission was given for Ms Susan Caffrey's father, Mr Ronan Caffrey, a taxi proprietor, Maple Drive, Drogheda, to be substituted as plaintiff instead of the husband, Mr Thomas Caffrey Clogherhead, Co Louth, who has since remarried.
Mr Caffrey brought the proceedings on behalf of himself his wife, Ms Dinah Caffrey, the daughter Suzanne, now aged five and Ms Susan Caffrey's brother sister and grandparents.
Most of the settlement will be for the benefit of Suzanne, who will be made a ward of court until she is 18.
The action was against Dr Michael Keane, a senior house officer at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, at the time, and the settlement is without admission of liability.
Mr Liam McKechnie SC, who was with Mr Daniel Herbert SC, for the family, said Ms Susan Caffrey attended her GP some time after being discharged from hospital with a healthy child. The GP arranged for her to be admitted to hospital on October 20th. At 5.45 a.m. on October 22nd, she died from acute myocarditis, an infection of the heart.
It was a serious heart condition which took several days to develop. The evidence would have been that she might have required a heart transplant.
On admission to hospital, Ms Susan Caffrey looked "fairly awful" and weak. She had a galloping heart rate. Two X rays and an ECG were misread. She deteriorated throughout the evening.
A problem arose in trying to establish causation. Apparently, acute myocarditis was fairly rapid once it set in. If it was very well established, the prognosis was very poor. In this case, it would have involved a heart transplant, and there was a probability that even if there had been correct intervention, she would have died in any event.
Mr Justice Johnson was told that proceedings against two other medical practitioners were to be dismissed.