A man with cerebral palsy has taken a High Court action for damages arising from the circumstances of his birth at a private Dublin hospital.
When Mr Francis Dolan was born in 1982, it is alleged he was given a "wholly undesirable" concentration of dextrose solution and the defendants also failed to address a number of critical matters.
Mr Dolan (19), of Roselawn, Ballydowd, Lucan, Co Dublin is suing Mount Carmel Hospital; Dr Margaret Kennedy, a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology, of Cherrywood Road, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin; and Dr Brian Denham, a consultant paediatrician, of Sandyford, Co Dublin.
The hospital and doctors deny negligence. The action, before Mr Justice Kearns, is expected to last from four to six weeks.
Opening the case, Mr Sean Ryan SC, for Mr Dolan, said his client's mother, Mrs Bernadette Dolan had given birth to three girls between 1970 and 1975. She was regularly attending Dr Kennedy prior to the birth of Francis, who was a small baby. A scan on April 22nd, 1982 had confirmed growth retardation and suggested a call for earlier intervention.
Counsel said Mrs Dolan alleged Dr Kennedy had told her it would be expensive to be in hospital for three weeks.
But it was not an option to "wait and see" what happened, Mr Ryan said. Dr Kennedy should have admitted Mrs Dolan to a specialist obstetric hospital for careful and consistent monitoring.
Mr Ryan said Mr Dolan was born following a caesarian operation by Dr Kennedy on April 26th, 1982 and his side's evidence would be the baby was not weighed. His solicitors had in 1996 been shown medical records for the baby and the section for his weight was blank. It now appeared a weight had found itself into the hospital notes since 1996.
Counsel also argued Dr Denham had arranged for the infusion of a wholly inappropriate concentration of dextrose solution. A solution of far less strength than 50 per cent should have been administered intravenously, he said. The solution was much too dense.
Mr Ryan said they knew from notes that the baby was suffering from lack of oxygen and carbon dioxide was increasing. Sometime between 11.15 p.m. and 11.30 p.m. on April 26th, the baby passed out and was transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Crumlin, where they managed to revive him after 75 minutes. He was also suffering from hypothermia. "They didn't even manage to keep his warm," Mr Ryan said.
Mount Carmel and Dr Denham had failed to deal with a number of critical matters, counsel said. The child was given the wrong medicine and this was given in a wrong manner. They did not address the problem of the increase of carbon dioxide. Nothing was done over a period of eight hours and the baby gradually got worse.
The result was brain damage causing cerebral palsy and mental retardation.