Garda settles negligence action after infection made him go blind

A GARDA sergeant who claimed he was left blind due to a failure to promptly diagnose an infection of the eye linked to wearing contact lenses has settled his High Court medical negligence action for an undisclosed sum.

Niall Fitzpatrick, aged 47, from Boher, Co Limeick, had taken the proceedings against the HSE and consultant eye specialist Raymond Niland. Both defendants denied the claims.

On the second day of the hearing yesterday, Liam Reidy SC, for Mr Fitzpatrick, told Ms Justice Mary Irvine the case had been settled and the proceedings against both defendants could be struck out.

Ms Justice Irvine said it was a difficult case and she was very pleased the sides had reached a settlement.

Mr Fitzpatrick had once been on the brink of being promoted to head of the Garda drugs squad at Limerick’s Henry St station.

In opening the case, Mr Reidy said the first symptoms of the garda’s condition appeared in June 2005. Three months later his eyesight had deteriorated dramatically.

Counsel said his client was seen on 11 occasions from when he first met with an ophthalmic registrar after visiting the A&E in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick on June 12, 2005, until admitted to hospital on September 8, 2005.

Mr Reidy said that during that time all those who saw Mr Fitzpatrick failed to take the “most preliminary step towards diagnosing him” by taking a swab of the eye.

He said doctors treated him for viral keratitis when it turned out to be acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), a serious corneal infection usually affecting people who wear contact lenses.

Counsel said the condition was well recognised by 2005 and was known to result in blindness unless diagnosed and treated early. If the diagnosis of AK had been given earlier his client, who had been wearing soft contact lenses, would have made a full recovery.

The court was told he has no useful sight and can just make out where windows are in a room.

He had travelled to Moorefield Eye Hospital in Britain in 2006 at which stage he had virtually no sight. A specialist there told him he “would never see again”. Treatment was also sought in Boston but this proved unsuccessful.