A settlement without admission of liability was announced in the High Court yesterday in an action for damages brought by a woman against a retired surgeon alleging negligence in the carrying out of keyhole surgery.
No other details of the settlement were announced. The proceedings by Ms Christine Carroll against Mr Vincent Lynch, a retired cardiothoracic surgeon, who had carried on a practice at St Vincent's Hospital and the Blackrock Clinic, Dublin, was returned to the High Court by the Supreme Court after the latter overturned an award of some €300,000 damages to Ms Carroll.
The Supreme Court, when overturning the High Court's award of €311,953, ordered a re-trial in the action. However, a settlement was reached in discussions between lawyers for the sides while the new trial was at hearing yesterday. It was stated that the settlement was without admission of liability.
Ms Carroll (46), a former hospital administrator, of Brookfield Court, Brookfield Green, Kimmage Crossroads, Dublin, had claimed she went to St Vincent's Hospital with a collapsed lung. Mr Lynch had carried out "keyhole" surgery on June 5th, 1996, and following the procedure, had to carry out chest surgery to stop bleeding. Ms Carroll claimed she now suffers from continuous severe pain.