Woman sues after amputation of her

A 62-YEAR-OLD woman who had her legs amputated claims her doctor told her on a number of occasions she was suffering from a pain in her back and allegedly discounted complaints about pains in her legs.

An action for medical negligence in the High Court is being taken by Catherine Blake, of Cashel Court, Cashel, Co Tipperary, against Dr Gerard Sullivan, a general practitioner, of Mary Street Medical Centre, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. He denies the claims.

Patrick Keane SC, for Ms Blake, told Mr Justice John Quirke proceedings against another defendant, Dell Computer Products Ltd, Raheen Industrial Estate, Limerick, had been settled and could be struck out.

Earlier, the court heard Ms Blake had been involved in an accident at Dell in Limerick on February 5, 1998, while sitting on two crates during a power failure. The crates had fallen backwards and she had struck her head on the floor and had a lot of trouble with her lower back. Mr Keane said liability had already been decided on in her favour in the Dell case.

Ms Blake, who is married with four adult children, said that prior to the amputations she was involved in a lot of sporting activities, including gymnastics, basketball, tennis and swimming.

She attended Dr Sullivan on many occasions after the Dell accident. She told the court she was a patient of Dr Sullivan in 1990. When she had complained about pain in her legs, Dr Sullivan had allegedly told her it was back pain, that she was imagining things and that the “pain was in her mind”.

In her statement of claim, Ms Blake alleges that by reason of his alleged failure to deal with her complaints and symptoms, her condition severely deteriorated and she had to undergo above-knee amputations of both legs on December 20, 2000, at Cork University Hospital.

On or about September 4, 2000, Dr Sullivan diagnosed thrombophlebitis, but allegedly failed to follow this up. In addition, Ms Blake alleges Dr Sullivan failed to heed a letter from Cashel Hospital requesting him to arrange for her referral to a vascular clinic and allegedly failed to observe signs of vascular insufficiency.

In his defence, Dr Sullivan denies the claims. He denies he failed to adequately advise or treat Ms Blake or make a proper diagnosis as alleged. He also denies any negligence and rejects her evidence that her toes were purple during visits to him.

The hearing before Mr Justice John Quirke continues today.