A lecturer in food production who severed a tendon in her finger when a bottle of sherry broke during a class demonstration has secured €80,000 damages in settlement of her High Court action.
Sinéad Lomas (33) was working in the Galway Institute of Technology giving a demonstration to 15 students on food preparation in May 2000, when the sherry bottle broke as she unscrewed the cap. She was seven months pregnant at the time and had a three-hour operation to knit the tendons together under local anaesthetic.
The action by Ms Lomas, Bunnahevna More, Corrandulla, Co Galway, was settled yesterday against the Galway Institute of Technology. Ms Lomas said she was a food-production lecturer and was giving a demonstration on May 3rd, 2000, when the accident happened.
She had asked a student to get a bottle of sherry from the storeroom. The student put it on the demonstration table. Ms Lomas said she lifted the bottle by the neck and went to unscrew it with her left hand. She thought the bottle fell out of her hand but became aware that the base of the bottle had come away. She tried to save the bottle with her right hand but hit the broken part.
Ms Lomas said she was brought to University College Hospital in Galway but, because she was seven months pregnant, she was not able to have a general anaesthetic. "I had horrendous pain . . . All I was thinking about was my baby," she said as she broke down in tears.
After three days in hospital, she was discharged with a plaster case from her finger to her shoulder. Later, she had a splint until a few days before her baby was born in July 2000.
She said she suffered from decreased movement of her finger and could not enjoy her hobbies, which included playing the piano and tin whistle.
Mr Justice Kevin Haugh was told the action had been settled and could be struck out.