A HIGH Court judge has found the Health Service Executive, the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin, and a doctor equally “grossly inept” in their treatment of a baby girl who suffered severe brain damage due to hydrocephalus.
Mr Justice Seán Ryan ruled each must pay one-third of a €4.75 million damages award previously agreed for the child.
There was nothing to distinguish the degrees of blameworthiness of the National Maternity Hospital, the public health nurses involved, and Dr Dermot Stones, of Albany Court, Shanganagh Road, Ballybrack, Co Dublin, regarding the tragedy that befell Jade Keane, the judge said.
Jade, now 10, was born at the hospital on March 21st, 2001, and suffered severe injuries that left her blind, wheelchair-bound and requiring care for the rest of her life.
Jade had sued the defendants through her mother, Gillian Keane, Wyatville Park, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, and last February secured €4.75 million in a settlement. It was claimed the cause of the injuries was hydrocephalus, known as “water on the brain”, and failure to treat it in the weeks and months after Jade’s birth. The settlement was against the HSE and the hospital only, but they sought indemnity or contribution from Dr Stones in relation to the damages.
All the defendants denied liability. It was alleged Jade suffered from hydrocephalus in the weeks after she was born but the defendants pleaded she had it both at and prior to her birth and her injuries were caused by a pre-existing condition.
Yesterday Mr Justice Ryan said each of the defendants, their servants or agents were “grossly inept in their treatment of this baby”.
While the hospital’s role in Jade’s care was brief, its fault was “grave”, the judge said. Dr Stones was also “seriously at fault” in his dealings with this baby which fell substantially below a proper standard.
It was no excuse to say others were also at fault when the conduct in question “amounts to blatant incompetence”. The judge also found “repeated negligence” by the public health nurses.