State’s largest personal injury payout
Girl, 16, gets €23.5m over catastrophic brain injury
THE largest personal injury settlement in the State’s history, of €23.5million, has been awarded to a 16-year-old girl who suffered catastrophic brain injuries during her birth.
However, Kameela Kuye’s family said that while she will now have a better quality of life, no amount of money could reverse the damage.
In a statement, read outside court by their solicitor, Emma Meagher Neville, the Kuye family said the compensation ‘will not alleviate Kameela’s injuries which are profound’.
The teenager cannot walk or speak and is tube-fed.
‘However, the settlement reached will assist Kameela’s care needs into the future and will mean that she will have a better quality of life,’ the family said in their statement.
They added that Kameela, who has four siblings, ‘has the most beautiful smile and a great sense of humour’. Ms Meagher Neville said that the settlement had been reached following a long and arduous legal battle with the State.
The payment to Kameela was approved by High Court judge Kevin Cross.
It was made by the HSE following mediation – and without any admission of liability.
Kameela, of Kilmoney, Carrigaline, Co. Cork, took the personal injuries action through her father, Jimmy Kuye, over the circumstances of her birth.
Senior counsel John O’Mahony told the court that Kameela had been in good condition when her mother Ganiyat Kuye went into labour in late 2004.
But he said she was ‘next to death’ and in ‘extremely poor condition’ when she was born on December 22, 2004, at St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork, with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.
He argued that monitoring of the foetal heartbeat during labour was negligent and that her injuries could have been prevented. Counsel also said he was confident that Kameela would win her case if it had proceeded to a full hearing.
It was claimed that failure to recognise that the baby was in distress resulted in a failure to intervene and deliver Kameela before she was deprived of oxygen and suffered a severe brain injury.
The HSE denied the allegation, insisting in its defence that the foetal heart rate monitoring was appropriate and consistent with the acceptable standard of care for an Irish maternity hospital in 2004.
It said the heart rate was monitored at least every 15 minutes during the first stage of labour and at least every five minutes during the second stage as opposed to continuous electric monitoring. There was no reason for concern for the mother as she was 28 years old and had already given birth to two babies with no complications, the HSE said.
In its defence, the HSE also said the first indication of a potential heart rate deceleration was eight minutes before the baby was delivered.
It said that at that point, if an obstetric registrar had been notified, it would have been highly unlikely that the baby would have been delivered any sooner, and that the outcome would have been the same.
The court was told that Kameela cannot walk or speak, has profoundly impaired swallowing and is tube-fed.
The teenager attends a special school in Cork city.
The settlement will allow the family to move out of rented accommodation which is unsuitable for Kameela’s needs.
She will also have the extensive care, therapies and equipment she requires.
‘Extremely poor condition’