A man who had an operation on his head at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin was left in a "catastrophic and paralysed state", it was claimed in the High Court yesterday.
Mr John Rooney, a former art teacher, went into the Dublin hospital for the removal of an arterio-venous malformation but after the operation, said Mr Garret Cooney SC, for Mr Rooney, he was left with paralysis of the left side of his body, severe brain damage and damage to his appearance and speech.
It is alleged that Mr Rooney (45), of Keenaghan, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, was left with a changed personality.
He is suing Dr Fergus Donovan, a consultant neurosurgeon who performed the operation, and the hospital's management board. Both defendants deny any negligence or breach of duty and plead that, if Mr Rooney suffered sustained excessive bleeding or dense hemiplegia, these were not due to any alleged acts or omissions on their part.
Mr Cooney, with Mr Liam McKechnie SC and Mr Alistair Rutherdale, said his client went into St Vincent's Hospital in April 1987 for an operation by Dr Donovan. Before then, he had suffered from a seizure.
Mr Rooney had not been properly informed of the risks attaching to the operation and was told it was minor. On April 23rd, 1987, the operation was performed for the removal of a temporal arterio-venous malformation. It had gone on for 12 hours. Counsel said it should have ended in two hours.
Mr Cooney said the operation had been approached from the wrong direction and had caused massive bleeding in the right temporal lobe, resulting in dense hemiplegia. Much less risk would have attached had he been left on the medication he was on before the operation.
Counsel said Mr Rooney was at the time an art teacher employed by Leitrim Vocational Education Committee. He could no longer perform those tasks and was let go as a teacher after the operation. He was effectively house-bound.
Mr Rooney, in evidence, said that before the operation he suffered "flashbacks". In February 1987 a doctor told him he had had an epileptic fit. He feared if he underwent the kind of operation being proposed he might end up brain-damaged.
He said he had asked Dr Donovan to explain what an arterio-venous malformation meant and was told it was an enlarged blood vessel. The doctor told him that if he did not have the operation it could cause a possibly fatal brain haemorrhage. He was reassured there was no danger of ending up a vegetable and the operation was minor.
Mr Rooney said he read and signed the consent order before the operation. When he awoke after three days in a coma, he could not move his left side.
After the operation he lost his job as an art teacher. School principals were not happy with his work because of his disability. He was unable to hear with his left ear and needed a hearing aid in his right. His left hand was paralysed and he could only move his arm slightly. He walked with difficulty.
The hearing continues today.