A 26 year old diabetic, Ms Antoinette Meeley, would not have died while in Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, but for the failure of medical staff to continuously monitor her condition, Dublin Circuit Civil Court has been told.
Mr Bruce Antoniotti, counsel for her mother, Mrs Elizabeth Meeley, of Silver Lawns, Navan, Co Meath, told Judge Kieran O'Connor yesterday that an inquest was ordered by the then Attorney General after the Co Meath coroner, Mr John Lacy, had refused "point blank" to hold one.
As a result, the condition of all hospitalised diabetic patients was now constantly monitored.
Judge O'Connor approved a "without prejudice" offer of £18,000 compensation and costs by the defendants, the North Eastern Health Board, Dr David Paul Brophy, and a consultant, Mr Selva Sothy, to settle the mental distress and special damages claim of Mrs Meeley.
Mr Antoniotti said Antoinette had been perfectly healthy on April 26th, 1991, when she entered the hospital because the defendants wanted to see if there was a more efficient way of treating her diabetes. Three days later she was dead.
During a visit to her daughter, Mrs Meeley had informed the defendants that in her view Antoinette was unwell, but they had done nothing more than they would normally do.
"They didn't monitor her on a continuous basis and unfortunately she died of diabetic ketone acidosis," Mr Antoniotti said. "It is a condition whereby there is not enough insulin in the blood, causing a build up of acid which attacks the heart and causes heart failure."
Mr Antoniotti said Mr Lacy refused point blank to hold an inquest, and if it had not been for the intervention of Mr Harry Whelehan, the then Attorney General, an inquest would never have been held. "The jury recommended that diabetic in patients be continuously monitored in hospital and this is now the case," he said.
Mr Antoniotti said that if Antoinette had been continuously monitored her condition, which was treatable and not normally fatal, would have been easily recognisable. He was satisfied that if Mrs Meeley's action went to trial liability would be established against the defendants, all of whom had lodged defences denying liability.
He said the £18,000 offer included a £7,500 figure deemed under the 1964 Civil Liability Act to be adequate compensation for mental distress resulting from a fatal accident. Such an amount was completely inadequate today for a claim such as this, he said.
Judge O'Connor said it was very harrowing for Mrs Meeley to lose her daughter in such a horrific way, but the defendants had met the case fairly and were to be commended for that. Denial of liability in such cases was a commercial decision in which emotions could play no part.