A CONSULTANT paediatrician told the High Court yesterday that when he examined a newborn baby girl in 1980 there was not the slightest suspicion of neurological abnormality and she did not have spina bifida.
Ms Gemma Lynch, now 16 through her mother, Mrs Patricia Lynch, Brackenbush Park, Killiney, Co Dublin, is suing Dr Brian Denham, Whinsfield, Sandyford, Co Dublin, and Mount Carmel Hospital, Dublin, where she was born.
The girl, who is alleged to have spina bifida, is claiming negligence and breach of duty when she was born.
Dr Denham and the hospital deny Gemma was born with spina bifida or that there was a failure to diagnose the condition.
They deny negligence or breach of duty.
Yesterday Dr Denham in the witness box said. "Gemma did not have spina bifida in any sense of the words. I think to call her a spina bifida child is cruel to her and her family."
Before he started his evidence his counsel, Mr Murray McGrath SC, said one of the original allegations against Dr Denham was that he was negligent in ligating a skin tag that Gemma had when she was born.
He said it was agreed that no damage flowed from this action and it was no longer a relevant allegation. Mr Justice Kinlen ruled it no longer relevant.
Dr Denham, who is also a consultant at Harcourt Street Children's Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin, said in evidence that he examined Gemma the day after she was born and recorded his findings on a chart.
She had a large tag of skin on the neck which he thought should be ligated.
Apart from that, everything else was normal, including her reflexes such as sucking, grasping, and a more complicated reaction of the body involving limbs and a series of movements.
There was no evidence on any of the tests that there was the slightest suspicion of any necrologic compromise," Dr Denham said.
He found the tag of skin and wanted to perform the procedure. He spoke to Mrs Lynch and told her about it.
He was aware that she had had a baby with spina bifida who had died shortly after birth. He told Mrs Lynch Gemma did not have spina bifida. He also said that sometimes there could possibly be hidden occult lesions which could only be detected by X-ray later but which could not be detected in a newborn baby. They could consider it at a six week check.
He performed the ligation and it went normally. In the records, he wrote "query X-ray later" which meant that they would think about it when she returned in six weeks.
When a patient left, she was told that she should phone the hospital for an appointment for the cheek up. He told this to Mrs Lynch.
There was no way the tag of skin, which was the size of a raisin, could have connected back to the spinal cord as no such channel was present and it was too narrow to transmit fluid.
However, Gemma was not brought back and he had not seen her from the day she left the hospital until the court case.
If he had examined Gemma at six weeks or six months, he still would have found nothing. He might possibly have found some fine motor dysfunction in Gemma's hands if he had examined her at one year.
No paediatrician could have found any abnormality in hand function at less than a year old.
He sent out a discharge letter to Mrs Lynch's GP and the same to her obstetrician, Mr Hubert O'Connor. When the secretary brought it back for signing, he was unhappy that he had failed to mention that an X-ray might be indicated some months down the road and he wanted to review the baby.
He amended the letter to this fleet and handed it back to be retyped and it was re presented for signature.
He found out many years later that his unamended original letter had been sent to Mr O'Connor and the amended letter had gone to the GP.
The hearing continues today.