Boy, 5, secures €650k after near drowning
Earlier, Mr Justice Sean Ryan had rejected a €550,000 offer as insufficient. The court heard the boy requires 24-hour care.
Experts differed on his life expectation, which they say could be between six months and four years.
Sean Ross McGowan, aged 5, sued through his mother Rose Houlihan of Camden Street, Dublin, and the proceedings were taken against Miss Carr’s Home Housing Association Limited, Ranelagh, and the HSE.
Both the mother and the father, John McGowan, had told the judge an earlier settlement figure of €550,000 was not enough.
The case was for assessment only and Mr Justice Ryan paid tribute to the parents and said it was obvious they were committed, devoted and dedicated to their son. The defendants had admitted liability for the accident and Sean was now being looked after at Sunshine Home in Leopardstown, Co Dublin.
The judge said it was hard to think of a more appalling cluster of injuries suffered by Sean which had the most devastating consequences for him. He added that the HSE had committed to providing the level of care that Sean would require, so that element was not in the case.
Earlier, Jack Fitzgerald SC, for the family, told the court that on August 21, 2007, Ms Houlihan was living at Carrs Home and had left Sean in a part of the home which was used as a creche. The infant was subsequently taken in a buggy to Ranelagh Park, when for whatever reason and in extraordinary sad circumstances, Sean was allowed to get out of his buggy.
He had vanished for some minutes and the next thing he was discovered in the pond by a doctor who rescued him on the point of drowning.
He was resuscitated but was extremely badly injured. Prior to the accident, Sean was a perfectly lively, good-humoured child.
It was believed the infant may have been in the water for some minutes.
He had suffered massive and permanent brain damage and will be permanently incapacitated, requiring 24-hour care.
Mr Fitzgerald said Sean’s mother was in agreement that Sunshine Home was the best place for him. His mother and father deeply loved him and Rose hoped to be able to take him out for a few hours twice a week. His mother believed he can vocalise, responds well to being cuddled and finds music soothing. The child was blind because of the brain injury, which affected 95% of his brain, counsel added.
Rose Houlihan told the court she had disagreements with the doctors concerning whether Sean should be ventilated if he stops breathing in certain circumstances and her view was ventilation should be carried out as she wanted her son’s life preserved. The court heard that this dispute may result in an application being made to the High Court by the HSE at some stage in the future.
The father of the child, John McGowan, told the court he was not happy that gardaí investigated the case properly and outside the court made a statement critical of the HSE for not apologising for what happened. He said it was now believed Sean had a life expectation of five years.
A separate action was taken by Ms Houlihan against Carrs Home and the HSE later yesterday in which she sought damages for post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorder, nervous shock and nightmares arising from what had happened her child.
When that case was scheduled to open before Mr Justice Ryan in the afternoon, Mr Fitzgerald said the matter had been settled. No details of the settlement were disclosed in court.
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