The High Court has approved a total settlement of €950,000, made without admission of liability, for a woman who claims she is now severely disabled and legally blind after suffering seizures before and after the birth of her baby.
Angela Fortune (44), Gorey, Co Wexford, had sued midwife Cliona McLoughlin, Bray, Co Wicklow, and the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin, for damages in relation to her care before and after the birth of her baby in 1993.
She claimed the midwife was negligent in failing to have due regard to the possibility of Ms Fortune developing eclampsia (high blood pressure) and claimed the hospital was negligent in the management of her care after she was admitted there. The claims were denied.
Mr Justice Richard Johnson heard that Ms Fortune had three convulsive eclamptic fits in late pregnancy and another fit which was linked to eclampsia and which left her severely disabled and suffering from tunnel vision.
Ms Fortune was brain-damaged, suffered a marked change in personality, has limited vision and is incapable of living an independent life.
Her action was due to open on Tuesday and was expected to last some time. However, the judge was told yesterday a settlement had been reached and he approved a settlement of €750,000 against Holles Street hospital and €200,000 against the midwife. The settlement was without admission of liability.
Outlining the case, Denis McCullough SC, for Ms Fortune, said she had wanted a home birth and had asked Ms McLoughlin to be her midwife as she had assisted in home births in the extended Fortune family. The midwife saw Ms Fortune five times and in the 36th week of her pregnancy.
Twenty-seven days later, she suffered the convulsive fits.
Mr McCullough said the issues in the case were hotly contested but the midwife would claim that she had called to the Fortune home and the gate was padlocked. Another time, Ms McLoughlin contended the land line was out of order and she had tried to make contact through an extended family member.
He said Ms Fortune's case against Holles Street was that the management after the delivery of her baby in hospital fell below a standard of care.
As a result of her injuries, Mr McCullough said Ms Fortune led a sedentary life. She was housebound and was cared for by her partner Terence O'Grady and her young daughter, Lucia.
Mr O'Grady had given up his marketing consultant's job to look after Ms Fortune.
In her claim, Ms Fortune stated she became pregnant in September 1992 and hired the servies of a midwife to provide her with ante-natal care. In June 1993, she was admitted to Holles Street hospital with a history of having eclamptic-type seizures. Her baby daughter was delivered by emergency Caesarean section.
On June 14th, Ms Fortune suffered another eclamptic seizure and was transferred the next day to the neurology department of Beaumont Hospital. On June 16th, a left-sided weakness was noted involving her face, arm and leg and both optic discs were blurred.
It was noted that Ms Fortune was inappropriately calm about her condition with no insight into the severity of its implications and she seemed unaware of the depth of her visual loss.
She was discharged from Beaumont Hospital on July 9th, 1993, and has continued to take anti-convulsants and medication to control epilepsy. It was claimed she suffered severe neurological damage and suffers from ongoing epilepsy which is controlled by medication; visual hallucinations, seizures, headaches and flashing vision.
She suffered severe neurological damage to the part of the brain involving her eyesight and is legally blind with bilateral vision only and no peripheral vision, the judge was told.
She is registered on the blind register list.
She suffers from attention and memory deficit, poor problem-solving skills, fatigue, poor concentration and can become confused easily.
As a result of her injuries, it was claimed her ability to mother her daughter has been severely affected and she was unable to care for her daughter in infancy.