Family’s anger at ‘hostile’ State in narcolepsy defence
THE mother of a young woman who sued the State and drugs giant GSK after contracting the sleep disorder narcolepsy following the Pandemrix flu vaccine has said the family were left devastated by what she called the “hostile” and “aggressive” State defence of the claim in the High Court.
Mary Bennett, whose daughter Aoife (27) received a settlement from the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE), warned health minister Simon Harris and the State not to hide behind ongoing legal action and to help other families avoid the upsetting ordeal they were put through.
Her daughter broke down during her cross-examination and the family was left deeply upset by what she claimed the State had forced them to go through over the previous seven years.
“We did not want to have to take this action,” Mrs Bennett told the Sunday Independent. “But we were forced into this case as we had no other option.
“We met the Department of Health and HSE initially in 2011 and again in 2012 after their own expert group brought out a report confirming a link with Pandemrix and narcolepsy.
“But the State Claims Agency took over the legal proceedings for the State on narcolepsy claims in 2013.
“We would never have started legal proceedings if we had been offered a proper settlement and support package for Aoife.”
She said the family had to start legal action because of the impending expiry of the statute of limitations.
She now wants Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Simon Harris to make statements on the future policy towards the 100 other pending claims — and what both, as former and current health ministers, will do to ease the plight of narcolepsy families.
Mrs Bennett slated as “a national scandal” the millions of euro in taxpayers’ money spent defending the case. Pre-trial disclosure costs were estimated at more than €2.1m, but that figure could now rise as high as €4m.
The State will now pay for the legal costs of defending the action and the legal teams for the various state agencies and GSK, which the State had indemnified.
Aoife Bennett said she doesn’t want to see any other family go through the same High Court experience. “It was very tough, very hard to sit through,” she said.
She explained the effects of narcolepsy were absolutely devastating on her life — and yet Ireland contested claims while other countries, including the UK, Sweden and Finland, moved to settle actions or put support programmes in place.
The trainee teacher from Co Kildare said she developed narcolepsy after receiving the Pandemrix vaccine in 2009 at the height of swine flu pandemic fears and was left feeling “like a sloth” due to chronic fatigue.
“I found myself sneaking up the stairs to go to bed for the day. I had to force myself to come down for Christmas dinner,” she said.
Campaign group Sound (Sufferers Of Unique Narcolepsy Disorder), pleaded with the State to ease the plight of the 100 other families battling narcolepsy.
“The State should ensure this is not a long drawn-out legal process causing further hardship,” said Sound secretary Tadgh Kennedy.