A baby boy suffered widespread brain damage after a suture used in an operation to help his breathing remained untrimmed during the surgery in Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, the High Court has heard.
Some €1.8 million damages have been agreed for the boy, Jude Miley, and the court will assess further damages, including future care, at a later date.
The child was six months old when a suture used in an operation to release his diaphragm and help his breathing remained untrimmed, causing damage to the heart muscle, the court heard.
Two days later, the child had a heart attack and was rushed to theatre for emergency surgery which saved his life.
Liam Reidy SC, for Jude, now aged four, said every time the baby took a breath after the original operation in 2012, the raw end of the suture was piercing “sword-like” around the heart.
Mr Reidy said the child’s parents, Ann Louise and Greville Miley, brought their son to the UK and US for treatment after friends set up a trust fund to help him. Both parents had to give up their jobs to care for their son and take him to overseas appointments and his father had to leave a job when he was refused leave of absence to take Jude abroad for treatment.
Mr Reidy said the child had suffered irreversible damage and an MRI scan carried out days after the operation showed he had widespread damage to the brain.
When the parents sought explanations, they were told it was a risk of the original operation and there was nothing that could be done, counsel said.
Mistake
“They were not told a mistake had been made and a suture had been left untied down and every time poor baby Jude took a breath he was causing injury to his heart,” Mr Reidy said.
The parents had asked to be involved in the hospital’s internal investigation into the matter but were not consulted or kept informed, he said.
The court heard liability was admitted last year in the child’s proceedings against Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children and the case came before Mr Justice Anthony Barr yesterday to assess damages.
The sides agreed a settlement of €1.8 million for accommodation, comprising €900,000 towards a new house, and loss of earnings, also €900,000, and the judge approved that at the outset of the hearing.
He will resume the hearing on Friday to assess damages under other headings, including future care costs.
The child has sued through his father, of Holywell, Upper Kilmacud Road, Dundrum, Dublin.
Jude was born on July 16th, 2011. By January 2012, a condition regarding the contour of his diaphragm was diagnosed. It was alleged that necessary surgery was carried out on January 24th, 2012 below the standard of care.
Deteriorating
It is claimed a suture was put in the wrong place, damaging the heart and resulting in the baby deteriorating and later suffering a cardiac arrest on January 26th, 2012.
There was failure to use the correct suture or a suture was placed to protrude in such a way as to abrade the baby’s heart muscle, it is claimed.
Before placing any sutures, there was failure to ensure the surgeon could visualise both the heart and other organs which, it was claimed, was vital in such a procedure, it is also alleged. There was also alleged failure to take into account and act appropriately upon the baby’s parents’ concern post-operatively regarding Jude’s condition.