€4.4m for boy damaged by negligent birth

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy who should have been born healthy but is permanently brain-damaged, blind and quadriplegic because of negligence in his birth at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has secured €4.35 million in settlement of his High Court action.

Mr Justice Vivian Lavan was told Aaron Trimble would have been born a perfectly healthy baby were it not for the admitted negligence in the management of his birth.

This included failure to adequately monitor the foetal heart rate, which would have shown the baby was in distress and needed to be delivered immediately.

There was also an apparent failure of hospital staff to notice that the machine recording the heart rate had run out of paper close to the time of the child’s delivery.

When Aaron was born and required resuscitation, an oxygen cylinder was found to be empty and resuscitation was delayed, the judge heard.

The “great tragedy” was that it seemed clear Aaron was a healthy baby up to late labour and, if proper actions were taken and he was delivered sooner, he would have been born healthy, said counsel.

“The only good fortune Aaron has had in his unhappy life is that he was born to such committed parents,” said Denis McCullough SC, for the boy.

As a result of the negligence, Aaron has cerebral palsy, all four limbs are spastic, he cannot speak, will never walk or smile, is totally dependent and has a much shortened life expectancy, said Mr McCullough.

The judge yesterday approved a settlement of €4.35m of his action against the HSE, which had admitted liability in the case.

The settlement is the largest of its kind based on a life expectancy of an additional 16 years.

Aaron had brought the case through his mother Catherine, 36, of Dunbin, Knockbridge, Dundalk, Co Louth, who has been caring for Aaron since his birth on March 26, 2004.

Aaron was Ms Trimble’s first born, she had a miscarriage in 2006 and gave birth to a healthy baby girl last month.

The hearing opened last Friday as an assessment of damages only, liability having been admitted by the HSE, and was settled yesterday after negotiations between the sides.

A major issue between the sides was the extent of the child’s life expectancy.

While the settlement is based on Aaron living another 16 years, the judge was told quality of care is a crucial factor in deciding life expectancy.

It was believed that, such was the care afforded to Aaron by his parents, his life expectancy would be maximised.

Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Lavan expressed his sympathy to Aaron’s parents over the “terrible tragedy” which had befallen their son who should have been born “safe and sound”.

He said counsel had outlined “a heroic saga” in relation to the parents’ commitment to Aaron of which he, the judge, stood in awe.