{"id":70571,"date":"2025-10-09T23:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/70571\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T23:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:56:13","slug":"tearful-dad-says-e7m-award-falls-short-for-brain-injured-sons-lifelong-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/70571\/","title":{"rendered":"Tearful dad says \u20ac7m award falls short for brain-injured son\u2019s lifelong care"},"content":{"rendered":"

A father broke down in tears in the High Court as he told how he and his wife are on their own as they attempt to care for their brain-injured son, who has complex needs.<\/p>\n

The father\u2019s tears came as the family of the teenager settled for \u20ac7 million an action over their son\u2019s care at two hospitals after his birth. His dad told a judge he did not think \u201cwith the cost of everything\u201d the \u20ac7 million was enough.<\/p>\n

The boy has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, cannot speak and requires round-the-clock care. He or his family cannot be identified by order of the court.<\/p>\n

Mr Justice Paul Coffey, who called the case \u201csad and tragic\u201d, was told that there was a litigation risk in the action and the \u20ac7 million settlement offer was being recommended to the court. The settlement is without an admission of liability.<\/p>\n

The father spoke directly to the judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have home help or carers as the companies who have carers don\u2019t have people with the expertise to look after our son. We don\u2019t have family support because our parents are elderly and frail,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is it, we are on our own,\u2019 the father told the judge, breaking down in tears.<\/p>\n

He told the court that while he understood the litigation risk, he had made calculations for the future, and he thought he could just stretch \u20ac10 million, but the \u20ac7 million settlement was not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are prepared to accept it. We will have to see what happens,\u201d he told the court.<\/p>\n

Oonah Mc Crann SC instructed by Cantillons Solicitors said the case was one of the most complicated she had come across, and if it went to a hearing would have lasted over six weeks.<\/p>\n

The boy, who is now aged 17 years, had through his father sued the HSE over the care he received at Wexford General Hospital and Children\u2019s Health Ireland at Crumlin over the care he received at Our Lady\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin after his birth in 2008.<\/p>\n

There was it was claimed at Wexford General Hospital an alleged delay to diagnose and treat the baby\u2019s necrotising enterocolitis, which is a disease affecting the intestine, and an alleged subsequent failure on the part of CHI Crumlin to provide adequate paediatric endocrine care after the baby was transferred there.<\/p>\n

Against the HSE, it was further claimed there was an alleged failure to recognise that the baby was becoming systematically unwell and there was an alleged delay in transferring him from Wexford to the Dublin hospital.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Drug<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Drug debt dispute led to double killing on Lough Sheelin, jury hears<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Against CHI Ireland at Crumlin, it was claimed there was an alleged delay in the diagnosis of the baby\u2019s congenital hypopituitarism, which is a condition involving the pituitary gland and treatment of the arising complications.<\/p>\n

All of the claims were denied by both defendants, and it was contended that the management of the baby’s treatment was appropriate and consistent with a reasonable standard of care.<\/p>\n

Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Paul Coffey thanked the father for his words, which he said would resonate with him for a long time. The judge said the teenager has great needs which will only increase as he advances further into life.<\/p>\n

However, the judge said the litigation risk in the case was very considerable and there was the risk that if the case went ahead the teenager\u2019s side could fail entirely or recover only a small fraction. As a result, he approved the \u20ac7 million settlement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A father broke down in tears in the High Court as he told how he and his wife…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-70571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}