Brain-damaged Rosie on verge of €3.4m award
THE parents of a four-yearold girl who was left with brain damage and subsequently diagnosed with cerebral palsy f ollowing a delayed delivery at birth are on the verge of receiving a €3.4million settlement.
Deborah and Kevin Slevin have welcomed the use of mediation to help get their daughter Rosie the care she needs.
The High Court will today be asked t o approve an i nterim settlement of €3.4million for Rosie, who sued the Coombe Hospital through her parents.
It was alleged her birth was handled negligently by the Dublin hospital, and that if she had been delivered more quickly, she could have been spared a lifelong brain injury.
Liability was admitted in the case and a l etter of apology – dated February 11, 2020 – will be read out in open court. The interim settlement, which will cover Rosie’s needs for five years, subject to approval by the High Court, was concluded t hrough mediation. This took place virtually because of the lockdown restrictions in place due to Covid- 19. All the parties participated from their own homes or offices, and the plaintiffs expressed their satisfaction with the ease of the process given their difficult circumstances.
A further assessment of Rosie’s future care needs will take place in 2025.
Speaking on the family’s behalf, their solicitor Roger Murray, of Callan Tansey Solicitors, said: ‘The family welcomed the early admission of liability, and the letter of apology takes away some of the hurt, but will never undo the injury suffered by Rosie.
‘We also welcome the use of mediation and the use of technology, which enabled this mediation to take place virtually at a time when a physical mediation would have been impossible.’
Rosie, from Glenealy Road, Crumlin, Dublin, was born in 2016. According to l egal papers before the court, her mother’s pregnancy had been entirely normal, until the morning of August 19, when
Ms Slevin noticed reduced foetal movements.
The following morning, she felt no movement at all, and went to the Coombe Hospital at around 9am, where she reported the absence of movement to staff. An ultrasound was carried out and no limb movements were noted.
Monitoring of the baby’s heart rate in the womb was then carried out through a CTG trace. Rosie’s legal team said the monitoring clearly showed a flat, sinusoidal pattern, which can indicate that the baby’s brain i s being deprived of oxygen. But this was not picked up on by either midwives or doctors.
At around 6pm, Ms Slevin was transferred to the delivery suite. The trace was again analysed by a midwife at approximately 7.40pm, but there was no recognition of the abnormality on the trace.
Rosie was born at 8.45pm in a poor condition, and was ‘flat and pale’. Her papers state an earlier delivery would have meant she would not have been deprived of oxygen for as long as she was. ‘An earlier delivery would’ve avoided a brain injury on the balance of probabilities,’ it added.
Rosie was i mmediately transferred to the special care baby unit in the Coombe, and spent three weeks in hospital. She has since been diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy.
It was claimed that staff failed to properly monitor her foetal heart rate, failed to call a consultant, failed to investigate the absence of foetal movement properly, and failed to deliver her at the earliest opportunity.
Newborn was ‘flat and pale’