A man was beaten over the head with a piece of metal in a grievous assault suffered after he waited more than 10 hours with his injured wife in the emergency department of Tallaght University Hospital (TUH), the High Court has heard.
The unprovoked attack changed the lives of Joseph (82) and Patricia Hansard (87) irretrievably, the couple’s lawyers told Mr Justice Paul Coffey on Tuesday.
David Kennedy SC, with Declan Harmon BL, instructed by Turner solicitors, said it was an unfortunate and distressing case for his clients.
Counsel told the court the couple’s actions had been settled for a total of €450,000 against the hospital. The settlement is without an admission of liability.
The couple arrived at the emergency department at around 9.15am on March 12th, 2022, after Mrs Hansard suffered a fall at home.
They were still waiting at the hospital shortly before 7pm when, without warning, Mr Hansard was subjected to an unprovoked attack by a man who had earlier been treated in an isolation unit and was on the way out of the hospital. Mrs Hansard witnessed the attack.
The pensioner was repeatedly struck on the head with a piece of metal and, it was claimed, violently knocked to the ground.
Counsel said it was their case that the attacker had been wandering around unsupervised and there were no security staff present when he left the isolation area.
He said the couple had been doing well in their home before the attack, but afterwards Mr Hansard – who suffered a loss of consciousness and significant head lacerations in the attack – went into decline and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Both are now living in a nursing home.
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Outside court, members of the extended Hansard family said in a statement that the assault, captured on CCTV, was only stopped by the intervention of nursing staff. They said the “horrific incident was entirely preventable”.
They called on the HSE and hospitals to take immediate actions to review and strengthen all hospital security.
“No family should endure what we have. Our parents deserved so much better, they were failed by Tallaght Hospital,” the statement said.
The family said Mr and Ms Hansard were “a golden couple” who had been married 58 years. After the attack their world was shattered, with Mr Hansard suffering severe cognitive decline and memory loss before being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Ms Hansard’s Parkinson’s disease progressed rapidly to dementia, they said.
“Unable to live independently, as a family we tried to care for them at home. Sadly they now require full-time nursing care.”
Mr and Mrs Hansard had sued TUH over the assault.
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It was claimed there was a failure to take any reasonable care to see that Mr Hansard would be reasonably safe in using the premises as a visitor. It was also claimed there was an alleged failure to ensure that he did not suffer personal injury or damage, assault, battery or trespass to the person by reason of any alleged dangers on the premises.
The emergency department, it was claimed, had been allowed to remain in an alleged dangerous condition such as could cause injury to those using it.
All of the claims were denied.
Mr Justice Coffey, who approved the settlement, said it was a very sad and distressing case for the couple and their family and it had upended their lives.
