Settlement in birth injury case against the HSE

April 2017

In 2017 Coleman Legal Partners reached a substantial settlement in the case of a young boy against the HSE. The firm was instructed by the infant’s mother to take an action against the hospital concerned and the HSE for the catastrophic birth injuries sustained by her son during the birthing process which left the infant with cerebral palsy.

On the day the infant was delivered, the hospital recorded a prolonged foetal bradycardia and an emergency caesarean section was performed. The intra-operative findings were that a uterine rupture had occurred and part of the body of the infant was lying outside the uterine cavity. This led to the infant being effectively ‘stillborn’; apnoeic, cyanotic and with no heart rate. The infant sustained a very serious hypoxic-ischemic injury

Medical evidence established that the delivery should have been carried out at an earlier time and that the hospital staff were negligent in the care they provided for the mother and the infant.

Coleman Legal Partners negotiated an out of court settlement with the HSE by way of a €2.56million interim payment order. Damages were also paid over to the infants’ parents for their financial losses and for the suffering they endured. The interim award will be revisited in 5 years, at which time another substantial sum will be paid over to the infant Plaintiff which will provide for his care for the rest of his life.