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Record €25m settlement for boy, 9, left brain damaged after Dublin hospital failed to diagnose infection
A nine-year-old boy left brain damaged and permanently disabled after a failure to diagnose an infection when he was a baby has settled his High Court action against Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Dublin with a final record damages payment of €25million.
The €25million settlement was approved by the High Court on Wednesday. The move came after earlier this week the boy’s parents pleaded with the court to reject a settlement sum of three million less of €22million saying it was not enough and was less than half of their claim. Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street previously apologised in court “for the failings" that caused injuries to Benjamin who has cerebral palsy, is quadriplegic and cannot speak. In court, Benjamin Gillick’s parents, Andrew and Miriam Gillick said they thought the final offer should be in the region if €27.5million. Mr Justice Kevin Cross approving the settlement said he appreciated the concerns of Benjamin’s parents, but he had to act in the best interests of the boy. ‘I appreciate you are disappointed but I believe it is in Benjamin’s Best interests,’ the judge said as he approved the €25million figure. The boy three years ago had received an interim settlement payment of €6.7million and a further uplift payment later. In court today Dennis McCullough SC for the Gillicks, who now live in London, said a substantial offer of €25m had been made and it was in addition to the previous damages making a total of €32.4million. The full cost of care he said will be included in the settlement and also so that Benjamin can attend a specialist school 80 kilometres from his London home and transport there and back. In court today Benjamin’s father said he would prefer the case to be heard for the court to decide his son’s future needs.He would have preferred €27.5million. He said it was not a fair payment. On a previous occasion, the court heard the boy suffered a brain stem injury when he was eleven months old which should not have happened. The first interim payment of €6.7million which was for three years included €3.95million towards the price of a house in London. In an apology read out in court three years ago, the Hospital said it sincerely apologised for the failings that caused injury to Benjamin Gillick and the consequent trauma for his family.Benjamin who is one of the identical twin boys was born prematurely in Dublin and later underwent a procedure when eleven months old at Temple Street Children’s Hospital to drain fluid on the brain. A shunt was inserted but he later returned to hospital vomiting and unwell. The court previously heard shunt infection is a known complication of the procedure and the cause of the negligence was that for up to three days this possibility was not investigated and Benjamin got progressively worse. Through his parents, Benjamin had sued The Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street Dublin over his care in April 2011. He claimed the hospital was negligent about the investigation, diagnosis, management treatment and care of-of the shunt infection he presented with on April 9, 2011. Benjamin had been admitted to Temple Street Children’s Hospital on March 21, 2011, for the shunt procedure and discharged home three days later. It was claimed that between March 24, 2011, and April 15, 2011, the baby sustained a complication of the shunt procedure, a shunt infection and was vomiting. He was brought to A&E at the Children’ Hospital. It was claimed at no time was the possibility of a shunt infection considered and gastroenteritis and a chest infection was suggested.Previously in evidence, Mrs Miriam Gillick who gave up a career in investment banking to look after her son said Benjamin needs a lot of help to even play, whereas his twin brother is a bright child involved in sports and activities.Our Irish Mirror Sports Page - which brings you all your Irish and UK sports news - can be found here.The Irish Mirror Twitter account is @IrishMirror while our sports page is @MirrorSportIE.
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