Teenager gets €3.5m over birth injuries

A €3.5 MILLION settlement was approved without admission of liability by the High Court in the case of a teenage boy who was brain damaged at birth.

Cian Mangan, 14, sued the HSE through his mother Michelle of Fairfield Road, Farranree, Cork.

Dr John O’Mahony SC, for the family, told Mr Justice Brian McGovern that while liability was not conceded in the case an offer of €3.5m with costs had been made by the HSE that the family were happy with. He said that the calling of the doctor was too slow when difficulties arose at birth and the doctor should have arrived within five minutes and not 10.

Dr O’Mahony said Ms Mangan, who was 18 years of age at the time, was a few days overdue and was in labour when she went into St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork on June 1, 1996. The difficulty in giving birth, he said, should have been identified at 10.56pm or even a couple of minutes before that, when alarm bells should have rung. Cian was born at 11.39pm but was lifeless at birth. His foetal heartbeat fell and be became asphyxiated and suffered from cerebral palsy as a result. When the doctor arrived at 11.20pm it was too late in the circumstances, said counsel.

He added that his expert witnesses would have said the delay in the doctor arriving was an unacceptable low standard and due to negligence on the part of the hospital. The HSE experts, on the other hand, would have argued that the procedures carried out at the time were appropriate and within acceptable standards. A full defence was entered by the HSE.

It was alleged the hospital failed to call a doctor or obstetrician promptly and failed to notice the foetus had become stressed with a fallen heartbeat and allegedly failed to ensure that the method of securing the attendance of a doctor/obstetrician was an efficient one along with failing to read the results of scan tests.

The court was told that Cian can walk from room to room in his home but when out needs a wheelchair.

Ms Mangan told Mr Justice McGovern the family were happy with the offer adding that “once Cian is happy we are happy”.

The court was told an application would be made to have Cian made a ward of court at a later stage and the judge agreed to a pay-out to Ms Mangan of €140,000 for past care and other costs involved over the past 14 years.

Afterwards, Ms Mangan said she was really happy with the settlement and said that while Cian had cerebral palsy it did not hold him back and he would now be able to travel to Manchester United games.