This complex breast cancer misdiagnosis case resulted in a settlement for damages of €325,000 immediatley before trial for the 13 year old son of Dorota Sliwa who had died from her breast cancer in October 2015
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DCU lecturer (26) died from carbon monoxide poisoning during a house fire in Limerick
A medical negligence case and inquest arose from the very poor standard of care received by the late Evan Morrissey (28) when he attended at South Tipperary General Hospital on multiple occasions with severe headaches. As a result of the negligent failure to conduct a lumbar puncture, a subarachnoid haemorrhage in his brain went undiagnosed and he died, survived by his partner and 5 young children.
Having lead the way with cases against DePuy arising from the disasterous failure of their ASR metal-on-metal hip devices, we were very pleased with the result we helped achieve for our client in this landmark case - the first judgement against DePuy in an Irish court.
Olive Fahey suffered multiple misdiagnoses of breast cancer with 4 seperate errors being made in her case over a 19 month period leading to a delay in her diagnosis and treatment that ultimately resulted in otherwise unnecessary mastectomy, chemotherapy, decreased survival prognosis and other serious harm. Despite inquiries by State agencies into this seminal case of misdiagnosis, the defendants did not admit liability until the eve of trial. The case is singularly important for the contribution that Mrs Fahey made to the development of much safer and more effective breast cancer services at a limited number of expert "centres of excellence" across the country where women are more likely to achieve a better outcome to their cancer.
Brian Rossiter was a 14 year old boy who was arrested and unlawfully detained overnight at Clonmel Garda Station on the 10th September 2002. He lost consciousness in the course of that detention due to a fatal head injury and lost his life 3 days later, never having regained consciousness. During the following 6 years, Cian O'Carroll represented Brian's family is a series of legal battles against various arms of the State including a Judicial Review of Cork City Coroner decision to exclude certain medical witnesses from the inquest, a year long statutory inquiry into misconduct by members of An Garda Siochana and a successful civil action against the State for the wrongful death of Brian Rossiter while in custody.
Doctors treating women who were wrongly given the all-clear from cancer were urged to exercise their “judgment” on whether to tell them about the misdiagnosis, documents before the High Court show.
A Tipperary woman who suffered 3 seperate misdiagnoses of breast cancer over a 19 month period suffered serious injury as a result. Arising from the initial actions of her oncologist, 2 seperate inquiries were initiated, one at Barringtons Hospital Limerick and the other at University Hospital Galway. The scandal led to a fitness to practice inquiry at the Medical Council in 2010 while final resolution is still awaited. The case helped bring about the complete restructuring of breast cancer screening and breast cancer treatment in Ireland, and made possible the assurance to women that their screening and treatment will be performed only at centres of excellence where international norms of care are adhered to. read more
A report on pathology services at University Hospital Galway has revealed mistakes in breast and other cancer checks in 50 patients. The report by the Health Information and Quality Authority says that one woman had a delay of 18 months in her diagnosis because of mistakes made by two different doctors. 12 other patients also had delays in their diagnosis of either cancer or benign disease. It follows an investigation into the misdiagnosis of a Tipperary breast cancer patient, known as Patient A. The study found that two different pathologists working in the pathology lab in UCHG were responsible for the error which led to a delay in Patient A's treatment. The report blames the error on the absence of an arrangement for pathologists from UHG to participate in multi-disciplinary reviews of cases of patients attending Barringtons private hospital in Limerick. Patient A attended Barringtons Hospital between September 2005 and June 2007 for suspected breast cancer. Her pathology samples were sent to UHG for analysis, as was the practice at Barringtons. Two false negative diagnoses followed in September 2005 and March 2007. Patient A was only finally diagnosed with breast cancer 18 months after she first attended Barringtons in September 2005. As part of the investigation the review team also looked at the wider casework of the two pathologists involved in Patient A's case. The review found that in the case of Dr B, the single interpretive error involving Patient A was the only cause of concern. But the review of Dr C's work identified 49 patients where the reviewers' findings differed from Dr C's. In total 12 patients have since been diagnosed with cancer or other benign disease as a result of the review. The investigation found that the agreement between the two hospitals was only based on an informal arrangement between clinicians and no formal governance arrangements were in place to oversee the service. This was despite the fact UHG was paid for the services it provided to Barringtons. The report also raises concerns about how consultants across the health service are recruited, describing the system as flawed. Director of Healthcare Quality with HIQA, Jon Billings, said doctors should not be employed based on references alone. Call for regulation Patient A has called for private hospitals to be regulated. In a statement issued to her solicitor, Patient A said she hoped the recommendations of the HIQA report would become law as soon as possible to save the lives of other women. She called on the Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, not to allow the report gather dust. The HSE has set up a helpline phone number which is open 9.30am-5.30pm Mon-Fri at 1800-25-20-16. source A complex case involving an atypical birth related brain injury due to hypoxia in the course of delivery. The case was unusual due to the long period of time that had elapsed - 27 years from birth and the absence of cerebral palsy or other physical injury. Nevertheless, through working with a team of leading experts, we established a strong case and achieved a settlement from the State Claims Agency on behalf of the HSE of 4 million euro.
Eddie Lonergan and his son PJ Lonergan both died one day after being discharged. A Tipperary family has received High Court settlements from two different hospitals following the deaths of a father and his son.
South Tipperary General Hospital apologised in the High Court to the family of PJ Lonergan (39) who died of an acute irregular heart beat the morning after he was sent home from the hospital where two ECG tests were conducted. The apology was read out in the High Court as Mr Lonergan’s son Mark (19) settled for €900,000 his action against the HSE over the care of his father at the Tipperary hospital four years ago. In a separate case before the High Court on Thursday, the Department of Psychiatry at St Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny also apologised to the Lonergan family as they settled an action against the HSE over the death of PJ Lonergan’s father, Eddie Lonergan (74), who died on January 10th, 2013, the day after he was discharged from the hospital where he was receiving psychiatric care. He had been transferred to St Luke’s from South Tipperary General Hospital. Approving both settlements, Mr Justice Kevin Cross sympathised with the Lonergan family of Templenoe, Cashel, on their sad loss and said he hoped they would now be able to get on with their lives. The settlement in relation to the death of Eddie Lonergan was confidential. PJ Lonergan’s son Mark sued the HSE through his mother Anne Marie Butler over the death of his father on May 7th, 2014. It was claimed there was a failure to admit PJ Lonergan to hospital on May 6th, 2014 when he presented at the emergency department and had two ECGs. It was claimed there was also an alleged failure to pay sufficient heed to an abnormal ECG and an alleged failure to consider all the possible different diagnoses for a patient with abnormal ECG findings. www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/family-settles-cases-against-hospitals-over-deaths-of-father-and-son-1.3360240 |