A Dublin man who went into hospital for a cardiac operation emerged with extensive paralysis of his right leg and serious urological problems, it was claimed in the High Court yesterday.
Mr Joseph O'Connell (74), of Walnut Lawns, Griffith Avenue, Dublin, has brought an action for damages for alleged negligence against a surgeon, Dr Alfred E. Wood; an anaesthetist, Mr John R. MacCarthy; and the Mater Private Hospital over an operation at the hospital in 1989. The defence denies negligence.
Mr Patrick Keane SC, for Mr O'Connell, said the case was a very tragic one. As a child, Mr O'Connell had suffered from rheumatic fever which apparently did some damage to his heart.
He had had various cardiac investigations in later years. In June 1989 he was advised to have surgery. He underwent an operation at the Mater Private Hospital on July 5th, 1989, in which the aortic valve was replaced and a mitral valve was repaired.
Mr O'Connell was given a general anaesthetic and an epidural anaesthetic. Having regained consciousness, he was seen by his wife on the morning of July 6th.
About 9 a.m. his wife noticed he was not able to speak and was pointing to his right leg. Mrs O'Connell asked a nurse what was wrong and was told he had had a minor stroke during the night.
Mr Keane said the case essentially would concern negligence and breach of contract in relation to the investigative diagnosis and treatment of Mr O'Connell from and including July 6th, 1989, and the aftercare.
One of the things that went wrong was that Mr O'Connell was diagnosed as having suffered a stroke when in fact he had not done so, counsel said.
He would be criticising the very slow speed of the investigation of Mr O'Connell's complaints and symptoms. Mr O'Connell claims he remained in hospital until mid-September 1989 when he was transferred to the National Rehabilitation Centre for intensive physiotherapy. While there, it is claimed, he suffered a kidney infection for which he was referred to a urologist who suggested prostate surgery.
He left the Rehabilitation Centre on December 8th, 1989, when he had achieved limited mobility with the support of two walking sticks. Prostate surgery was performed by a urologist on January 5th, 1990, following which there was no improvement in his urological problems.
It is claimed Mr O'Connell had never had urological trouble before his heart surgery. He had achieved some improvement in his right leg through physiotherapy until Easter 1990 when progress seemed to stop.
It is claimed the quality of Mr O'Connell's life has been diminished drastically and that his physical difficulty has offset any benefits which he has enjoyed as a result of the undoubted improvement in his cardiac condition following heart surgery.
Among other claims, it is submitted that there was a failure to carry out an MRI scan of his spinal cord immediately following the diagnosis of paralysis of the right leg and a failure to diagnose that he suffered an epidural haematoma in sufficient time to effectively treat the condition.
The hearing, before Mr Justice Budd, is expected to last several days.