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The parents of a premature baby who died after her heart was accidentally pierced during a chest drain procedure at The Coombe Hospital has settled a High Court action over her death.
Laoise Kavanagh Ní Scolaí, a twin, died aged 42 hours and 27 minutes old after her heart was penetrated with plastic tubing while an attempt was being made to insert a chest drain eight years ago.
The Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin, admitted liability in the case.
Her father Cóilín Ó Scolaí read a statement in the High Court about the “long and arduous legal battle to uncover the truth” of how this happened to their daughter.
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“This has been a very long and painful journey that could have been avoided. Something needs to change,” he said.
He told Mr Justice Paul Coffey: “We were lied to from the moment Laoise died and continued to be lied to for many years after her death. In our opinion they cared about Laoise until the moment she died, then they cared more about the reputation of The Coombe Hospital.”
[ Newborn baby died after chest drain pierced her heart, inquest told ]
He said that for weeks, months and years Laoise’s own life history was changed.
They were told she had been the weaker twin, whereas when the babies were born they were told she was the stronger of the two.
“It was particularly galling to us that Laoise’s short life of 42 hours and 27 minutes was now being rewritten. This was cruel and unforgivable,” he said in the statement on behalf of himself and his wife Irene Kavanagh.
Mr Ó Scolaí said the way his family was treated after her death and “the betrayal of trust was extraordinarily shocking”.
“It continues to be a great source of distress to us and compounded our suffering at a time when we were already trying to cope with the death of our daughter and to grieve,” he told the judge.
Laoise’s twin brother Cuán, he said, is growing up without his twin sister and they live with her loss every day.
“When they pierced her heart, they broke ours. Our little girl who we wanted for so long and loved so dearly was dead.”
Fighting back tears, Mr Ó Scolaí said the couple, of Drimnagh, Dublin, found themselves in a legal process because “we could not get to the truth of what actually happened to Laoise and it took tremendous fight on our part to get to that truth”.
He added: “Even after we got to some truth at the inquest it still took four months to admit liability, again adding to our pain and suffering. Then, even after admission of liability, we were told that we had to prove that we were affected by our baby’s death.
“The cruelty of their actions we can never forgive.”
Laoise’s parents said the legal process was also a harsh and gruelling fight.
Mr Ó Scolaí told Mr Justice Coffey that had the hospital “held up their hands at the beginning, admitted their wrongdoing and assured us that this would never happen again, we would have been saved of this pain and torment.”
He said it would have allowed them “to move forward, to grieve our daughter a lot sooner”.
Instead, he told the court it has taken eight years to get to this point.
“This has been a very long and painful journey that could have been avoided. Something needs to change,” he concluded.
He said they have watched Laoise’s twin brother, who, when born was the weaker of the two, growing up to be a strong, athletic, healthy boy.
“We always wonder what Laoise would have been like today, would she look like him, have his personality, his cheeky smile? It is also a constant reminder that she is not here,” he said.
Their solicitor, Stuart Gilhooly SC, told the court the case had been settled for substantial sums.
The terms of the settlement are confidential.
Laoise and her twin brother Cuán were born by Cesarean-section on January 22nd, 2015. Both developed respiratory distress. They were diagnosed as having developed a build-up of air in the pleural cavity. A decision was made to insert a chest drain to relieve pressure on the infant’s heart and lungs. Laoise deteriorated quickly and after being transferred to another hospital, she was pronounced dead at 4.45pm on January 24th, 2015.
An inquest into Laoise’s death heard new guidelines have since been introduced at The Coombe Hospital in relation to the particular technique used for the insertion of the drain.
Irene Kavanagh and her husband Mr Ó Scolaí, of Drimnagh, Dublin, had sued The Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin, over the death of their daughter.
Their case alleged they were completely devastated by the events that occurred. It was further claimed they were subjected to further breaches of duty in the manner in which they were treated by the hospital following the receipt of the devastating and tragic news.
As a result of Laoise’s death, it was claimed, her parents suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.
Settlement ‘meant nothing’
Speaking on RTÉ’s Primetime on Tuesday night, Ms Kavanagh described the events leading to her daughter’s death when, following the procedure, she was transferred to Crumlin Hospital for treatment.
“I remember coming out of the kitchen [they had been waiting in] and the consultant was down the corridor and she was standing in the door and I could just see her face,” Ms Kavanagh recalled.
“I just said please no, don’t say it, don’t say it, just don’t say it and she just nodded. And we knew at that point she was gone.”
After that, she said, things changed. Mr Ó Scolaí said that at one point when they found out her heart had been pierced, hospital staff suggested their daughter’s heart had “swung into the needle”
“Which is outrageous. Now all of a sudden we’re blaming Laoise for her own death,” he said of the suggestion.
Ms Kavanagh said the settlement arrived at on Tuesday meant nothing.
“We didn’t start this process for a settlement. We wanted to get to the truth,” she said. “It’s a hollow victory. I’m still going home without my baby.” - Additional reporting by Mark Hilliard