‘We weren’t told of danger our children would die’

A HOSPITAL has apologised to a couple who should have undergone genetic screening to warn them of the risk of their children not surviving due to a congenital anomaly.

The couple’s first son was born healthy in 2008, but a second child, a girl, survived for just 18 months after she was born in July 2010 with congenital abnormalities.

The mother gave birth to a healthy son in March 2013, but a fourth child, another girl, born in October 2014, died just one hour after her birth.

She was also found to have had major congenital problems.

Judge Kevin Cross was told that the mother, who was not named in the High Court yesterday, was a public patient of the National Centre for Medical Genetics at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin in Dublin.

The court heard it was only after testing by the Crumlin hospital in August 2014 that it was discovered the plaintiff had a genetic condition which predisposed their children to the congenital issues.

It was argued that the couple should have been made aware of this following the birth of their first little girl, who died.

This would have identified the risk of congenital abnormalities for their future children, and such heightened risk should have been communicated to them, it was argued.

Instead, testing carried out on their daughter in 2010 merely identified a chromosomal problem, with no further investigations carried out on the girl’s parents to establish any risks.

The circumstances of their second daughter’s death caused the mother to suffer severe mental distress, upset and trauma, the court was told.

In her statement of claim, the woman’s lawyers said the hospital had failed to exercise reasonable care in the carrying out of appropriate investigations in relation to the chromosomal defects in 2010, and failed to give them advice about the risks for future children.

The case taken by the couple, who were represented by Dr John O’Mahony SC, was against Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin and the HSE.

The hospital admitted breach of duty in the conduct of the genetic screening of the plaintiff and her husband in 2010 – but it initially contested the level of personal injury caused.

An apology was issued to the couple on Monday by hospital chief executive Seán Walsh, and read to the court at the conclusion of the case yesterday.

It read: ‘On behalf of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, I wish to again reiterate the apology contained in the review report of August 4, 2017, to you both and to your family for the events that occurred in August 2010 when an incorrect genetic report was issued to you both, and for the distress caused.

‘The hospital unreservedly extends its sincerest apology for the shortcomings in the care provided.’