A Co Galway man whose wife allegedly sustained serious brain damage at about the time of the delivery of her twin girls almost 25 years ago has settled his legal action for damages against the Western Health Board on undisclosed terms.
Agnes Keane remained in a coma for 19 years until she died in 2002.
At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice John Quirke was told that the action, brought by Pádraic Keane arising from the treatment of his wife at Galway Regional Hospital in 1983, had been settled and the proceedings could be struck out.
No details of the settlement were revealed in open court but counsel for the Keane family said they had decided to divide any sum between them and that the defendants had agreed to pay their costs.
Mr Keane, Chapel Road, Abbeyknockmoy, Co Galway, sued over the medical treatment of his wife, a computer plant worker, who died in July 2002, 19 years after she went into a coma following the delivery of her twin girls in 1983.
The girls, who are both now aged 24, were ultimately delivered by Caesarean section. In earlier hearings, the court was told Mr Keane had spent years in the "blind hope" that his wife might wake up from the coma.
Approving the settlement yesterday, Mr Justice Quirke said this was "an extremely tragic case" and expressed his "deepest sympathies" to the Keane family.
The proceedings were initiated by Mr Keane on behalf of his wife in 2000. However, Ms Keane died on July 9th, 2002, at Merlin Park Hospital, Galway, allegedly as a result of the injuries sustained during her labour.
It was alleged there was a failure to diagnose that Ms Keane was expecting twins before her admission to hospital and a failure to intervene in the pregnancy before a pre-eclampsia process became uncontrolled and eclampsia developed.
Pre-eclampsia is a condition that can result in a pregnant woman's blood pressure rising to dangerously high levels and, if undetected, it can lead to eclampsia, which is potentially fatal.
Mr Keane claimed there was a failure to perform a Caesarean section in time to prevent the development of pre-eclampsia and that his late wife's pregnancy was prolonged in such a manner that it posed a risk of serious injury to her.
It was further claimed that Ms Keane was admitted to Galway Regional Hospital on June 29th, 1983, suffering from pre-eclampsia. Several days later, Mr Keane claimed, his wife had pre-eclamptic fits following which her labour was induced by artificial rupture of the membranes. The twins were successfully delivered.
After that Ms Keane was given an epidural anaesthetic, following which she had a full-blown convulsion. It was claimed she then became unresponsive even to moderate painful stimuli and was having generalised fits and impaired responsiveness.
Ms Keane suffered severe and irreversible brain damage and was in a permanent vegetative state requiring constant care, it was claimed. She had no hope of any clinical improvement.
In earlier proceedings Mr Justice Quirke ruled that the Western Health Board was not entitled to indemnity against the estate of the late Dr Fergus Meehan in proceedings brought by Mr Keane.
Dr Meehan, a consultant obstetrician who was allegedly responsible for Ms Keane's management and care during her pregnancy, died in 1991. In 2006 the judge ruled that Mr Keane could not, in light of the provisions of the Civil Liability Act 1961, sue Dr Meehan's estate.