John Meehan's 11-year-old son Lorcan was described by a High Court judge as one of the most profoundly handicapped children he had ever seen.
Meehan successfully sued the hospital where Lorcan was born after concern at a "lack of activity in the labour ward" during Lorcan's birth was followed by confirmation his son was severely disabled. "I just can't emphasise enough the anger and the insult to parents with brain- injured children when people say suing is 'like taking honey out of a pot'. In our trial it transpired the doctor took steps he shouldn't have."
The Meehan case spent six weeks in the High Court, even though the hospital admitted liability after seven days. Without the court order stipulating what Lorcan was entitled to, Meehan said he would have had no chance of getting access to services. "Before the court case, I had terrible difficulty. No one came to us and told us what was needed. We were in shock and struggling with what had happened to Lorcan."
He and his wife have both given up their careers to care for their son 24 hours a day.
Meehan is chairman of the group Equality and Justice for Brain Injured Babies.
This group had representatives on the expert group set up to consider a no-fault compensation scheme for brain-injured babies. Meehan believes the expert group was abolished when the cost implications of such a scheme became clear.