Case against BTSB settled out of court

A woman who claimed she was in a state of constant pain after she was jabbed with a needle in a nerve instead of in a blood vessel…

A woman who claimed she was in a state of constant pain after she was jabbed with a needle in a nerve instead of in a blood vessel when she went to donate blood has settled her High Court action for damages against the Blood Transfusion Service Board.

In court yesterday, Mr Colm Condon SC, for Ms Helen Power (59), a nurse's aide, of Crainn Ard, Blackberry Lane, Newbridge, Co Kildare, told Mr Justice Johnson the case, which began last Friday, had been settled and the proceedings could be struck out.

Ms Power, who went to give a blood donation in the BTSB's mobile unit in Newbridge in January 1995, said that when a doctor failed to find blood after inserting the needle, he continued to search around for a vein. When she complained of the pain, she said he had replied: "It'll be all right, missus."

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