The father of Daniel Stears said it all when he stated after yesterday's £2 million compensation was agreed that "no money will ever ease the heartache of watching our little boy living a life which is only a fraction of the life he should have had".
Indeed, the same could be said of Daniel's parents, who will be caring for their son for some decades to come.
Sharon Stears was only 22 when she went to the Rotunda Hospital to have her first child. But Daniel suffered asphyxiation and oxygen deprivation at birth, with consequences which brought this young family to the High Court last week to have damages assessed.
These consequences include brain damage, severe developmental delay, cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Earlier this year Daniel, now three years old, had two stomach operations. One was to deal with reflux (regurgitation) problems and the other to make a surgical hole to help with his feeding.
He has many epileptic seizures each day and also suffers from a sight impairment. Although he can make sounds, he has never been able to establish any form of vocal communication with his parents.
It is hardly surprising that, as the court heard, the lives of his parents revolve around him. They have no other children.
His father, Fintan, said yesterday that every penny of the compensation would go towards safeguarding his future and paying for medical and nursing care.
It is understood that this care will include the purchase of a specially equipped house, which, in today's Dublin housing market, is likely to account for a very large proportion of the money.
Nursing and medical care, too, could be highly expensive: Mr Denis McCullough SC, for the child, told the court he believed Daniel could live into his late 20s.
Under the circumstances, few would blame Fintan Stears for his criticism of the Rotunda Hospital yesterday: "They have robbed us of a healthy baby, they have robbed Daniel of a full and healthy life, and God forgive them, because we never will."