An award-winning part-time opera singer who is severely disabled after a hospital and a GP failed to properly diagnose the cause of her headaches has been awarded €2.39 million in an interim damages settlement at the High Court.
Elaine Lennon (36) can now only speak in a whisper, is wheelchair bound and will require 24-hour care for the rest of her life because doctors failed to diagnose an infection in her brain, the court was told. She would have been fine if a CT scan of her brain had been carried out in time, it was claimed.
Ms Lennon was 39 weeks pregnant at the time of her injury, when she almost died, but she later gave birth to a baby girl, Claudia, who is healthy and doing fine, the court also heard.
Were it not for her injuries, Ms Lennon could have gone on to make a lot of money as a singer and a psychologist as she was conferred with a master’s degree in psychology just a few months after her injury, Mr Justice John Quirke said when approving the interim settlement for Elaine.
Suing through her father John Lennon, Ms Lennon, formerly of Newhaven Bay, Balbriggan, Dublin, brought the action against the HSE and Dr Patrick Mathuna, a GP at Castle Mill Medical Centre, Balbriggan. Liability was admitted by both defendants.
It was alleged she arrived at the accident and emergency unit of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, on February 4th, 2007 complaining of headaches.
She was diagnosed by a medical registrar as suffering from a urinary tract infection and dehydration, it was claimed. As she was pregnant, she was assessed by a midwife and later underwent a Caesarean section. Her baby was born late on February 4th.
She continued to complain of severe headaches, neck stiffness and was not responding to antibiotics, it was claimed. Doctors at the hospital twice queried whether she should have a CT scan of her brain but no scan was carried out and she was discharged on February 11th along with her baby, it was claimed.
She continued to suffer from headaches and was vomiting. She attended Dr Mathuna’s clinic on February 14th when she was given an injection which worked for around 24 hours, it was claimed. Dr Mathuna called to her on February 17th and told her he believed she could be suffering with post-natal depression and exhaustion and prescribed a sedative, it was also claimed.
Later that day, she collapsed at home and was admitted by ambulance to the A&E unit. Early the next day, she had two seizures. A CT scan was then carried out that revealed an abscess in her brain had burst into the ventricles.
It was alleged the HSE, as operator of the hospital, was negligent in failing to carry out the CT scan when she first went to hospital and had carried it out too late on the second admission.
It was also alleged Dr Mathuna was negligent in wrongly diagnosing her symptoms as pregnancy related and in failing to refer her to the hospital having regard to her history of repeated headaches and unsteadiness on her feet.
Bruce Antoniotti SC, for Ms Lennon, said she had been accepted by the College of Music as a soprano and had worked part-time at weddings and funerals as well as performing for Opera Ireland and in other international competitions where she won prizes. Today, she speaks in a whisper because her injury had caused the loss of her voice, counsel said.
Ms Lennon had worked with An Post before going onto employment with the HSE practising as a psychologist doing home care for children, counsel added. She was also studying for a masters in science and intended to qualify as an occupational psychologist, She was among the top 30 per cent in her class.
His client was an active intelligent young woman who had set up home in Balbriggan with her partner, Marcus Connolly, and they had planned to start a family, counsel added,
While she was now living in a nursing home in Balbriggan, the family were desperate to get back together again and it was hoped, with the settlement, Ms Lennon could buy a house in north Dublin equipped with various aids and technological equipment.
Mr Justice Quirke said he had no problem approving the settlement. He will deal next Tuesday with the question of future care and told Ms Lennon she will benefit from expected legislation to provide periodic payments in cases such as this.