‘Substantial’ settlement for couple over baby’s stillbirth

A COUPLE who cited the right to life of the unborn amendment to the constitution as grounds for suing for damages for wrongful death of their stillborn baby settled their case yesterday.

Lavinia Doyle, 36, and her Italian-born partner, Luca Chiussi, 35, are believed to have secured a “substantial” settlement in their case against the Health Service Executive (HSE) after their baby Ethan was stillborn in Waterford Regional Hospital on July 25, 2003.

The case centred on the treatment Ms Doyle received while in the hospital and separately on whether there was provision under law for damages for the death an unborn child.

The case was due to resume in the High Court yesterday when counsel for the couple, Denis McCullough SC, said it had been settled “for an agreed sum”. Liability was admitted by the HSE.

The court heard the State, represented by the Attorney General, who had been joined in the action because the couple claimed their right to seek damages for an unborn child had to be interpreted in accordance with Article 40.3.3 of the constitution vindicating the right to life of the unborn, would pay its own costs.

The settlement means the question of the right of the unborn to sue for damages remains unresolved.

After the case, Ms Doyle said she was happy liability had been admitted and she hoped the case would change the way patients are looked after in such situations as she found herself.

She has since had another child, Mattia, 2, who had been born in Italy because she had not been happy with the treatment she received here. The couple lost both Ethan and their first child Matteo, who died three days after his birth in Waterford Regional.

The court heard that Ms Doyle, an office assistant, and her partner Luca, a welder, returned to Ireland in 2001 to start a family.

In 2002, they suffered their first tragedy when during her first pregnancy, she went into eclamptic shock and Matteo was delivered by Caesarean but died from complications.

Ms Doyle, who is living in Burnmount, Co Waterford, became pregnant again later that year. In her 29th week, her legs became swollen and she was admitted to Waterford Regional before being discharged and readmitted five days later.

She suffered an early separation of the placenta from the wall of the uterus (placental abruption) and claims she sought to have the baby delivered by Caesarean but was told this was not necessary. Ethan was delivered stillborn.

The couple claimed the HSE failed to detect or to respond appropriately to the onset of constant abdominal pain and caused or permitted the baby to die by failing to deliver him in time or at all. They also say the hospital failed to inform Ms Doyle of the delivery options and failed to adhere to general and approved medical practices applicable in the circumstances.

The HSE argued there was no provision under the law under which the couple sought damages for a claim in respect of an unborn baby in the mother’s womb. The baby was not a person within the meaning of the 1961 Civil Liability Act which allows one to sue for wrongful death.

However, the couple’s lawyers said the 1961 act had to be interpreted in accordance with Article 40.3.3 and if they were not covered by the current law, the 1961 act was unconstitutional. It was also incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003.

The HSE denied its servants or agents were guilty of any negligence or breach of duty or that they occasioned or caused the death of Ethan.

The condition Ms Doyle suffered occurred without warning and could not have been predicted or prevented, the HSE said. Earlier intervention would not have led to the baby being born alive, it added.