A three-year-old Co Dublin boy who is severely brain damaged and has cerebral palsy is to be paid €3 million and costs in settlement of his action against the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street.
The High Court yesterday approved the settlement in favour of Daniel Reid, Birchdale Court, Kinsealy Court, Swords, who was born at the hospital on August 20th, 1999.
Suing by his mother, Ms Carol Reid, Daniel brought an action against the NMH alleging negligence in the circumstances of his birth. The defence denied those claims.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Johnson was told that there was no admission of liability by the hospital.
In approving the settlement, the judge said there was a very genuine argument about the issue of liability. He told lawyers for Daniel that when they got an offer such as they now had, it was an ideal case to be put before the court for a decision.
The case arose after Ms Reid was admitted to the hospital on August 19th, 1999. She began labour the following day and Daniel was born at 7.10 p.m. It was claimed there was a failure to exercise proper care in connection with the delivery and a failure to appropriately monitor baby and mother once labour was established.
Daniel is now cared for at home by his parents. Ms Reid had worked as a law searcher until the birth, while her husband, Derek, is a financial controller. A high proportion of the settlement figure will go towards future care for Daniel.
Earlier, recommending acceptance of the offer of €3 million, Mr Denis McCullough SC, who was with Mr Bruce Antoniotti SC, for the plaintiff, said there were issues of liability in the case. On the plaintiff's side, the calculation was that the case was valued at a top figure of €4.75-€5 million. The defence valued the case at a much lower figure. If the case had gone ahead, it could have taken four to six weeks.
Mr McCullough said Daniel was being given the most devoted and loving care by his parents at home. There had been some improvement in his condition since his first year, due almost entirely to the care he had been given.
Counsel said Ms Reid was content that the judge approve the settlement and did not want the case to go on with the risk of Daniel getting nothing at all. An application would be made later to have Daniel taken into court wardship.
Following yesterday's settlement, Daniel's parents said they would like to thank their lawyers and their doctors who were prepared to give evidence to support his case. They were happy and relieved the case was over.
The parents said they were very disappointed that the NMH continued to refuse to accept responsibility for what occurred to Daniel. They were also very annoyed that the hospital had never apologised for what had occurred. They called on the hospital to completely review its policies for monitoring foetal heart rates when inducing labour.