Coleman Legal LLP secures settlement in hearing loss claim against the HSE

Hearing loss claim settled against the HSE following delayed diagnosis

Our client, a young woman, came to Diane Treanor at Coleman Legal in connection with a failure to diagnose hearing loss that had gone undetected during a series of assessments carried out when she was a young child. The assessments had been incomplete, and the results had not been documented appropriately. Based on those assessments, our client was told she had normal hearing.

The incorrect diagnosis went unidentified through the critical years of her early development. By the time the true position was established, she had lost the opportunity to receive speech and language intervention during the developmental window in which such support would have been most beneficial. The impact extended to her social development, her educational experience, and her psychological well-being. She instructed Coleman Legal to bring a hearing loss claim against the HSE.

How we supported our client through the process

Diane Treanor carried out a detailed assessment of the audiological screening conducted when our client was a young child and of the standard of care applied. The applicable standard in Irish medical negligence law derives from Dunne v National Maternity Hospital [1989] and the Civil Liability Act 1961, which requires a practitioner to exercise the care and skill of the ordinarily careful and competent practitioner in the relevant speciality. Incomplete assessments and a failure to record results appropriately fell below that standard.

Three independent experts were instructed

• An audiologist assessed the nature of our client’s hearing loss, what the assessments carried out in childhood should have detected and reported, and when the correct diagnosis ought to have been made.
• A speech and language therapist addressed the impact of the delayed diagnosis on our client’s speech and language development, the intervention that was denied to her during the critical developmental period, and the consequences that followed from that loss.
• A psychiatrist assessed the psychological impact of the delayed diagnosis on our client, including the distress arising from the knowledge that the failure was preventable and the effect on her sense of self and her relationships.

As a minor at the time of the original failure, our client’s Statute of Limitations did not begin to run until she reached adulthood. Proceedings were issued against the HSE, and the case was conducted over a period of four years, with expert evidence maintained and updated throughout. The HSE made a partial admission during the proceedings.

Outcome and resolution

A confidential settlement was reached with a partial admission of liability by the HSE, four years after our client instructed Coleman Legal. The matter was fully resolved. Diane Treanor of Coleman Legal represented our client throughout.