Woman awarded €57k after HIV misdiagnosis

A woman who sued a hospital after she was given a wrong HIV positive result when her blood test was mixed up with that of another person has been awarded over €57,000 by the High Court.

Clerical worker Michelle Kenny, Ms Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon said, suffered a nervous shock-induced physical condition as a result of the misdiagnosis.

Ms Kenny, from Crumlin, had sued St James’s Hospital, Dublin, for nervous shock after she was given a HIV positive test result when her blood test was mixed up with that of another person. Ms Kenny, the judge, said was incorrectly informed she was HIV positive and subsequent tests proved otherwise confirming she is HIV negative.

The hospital admitted liability, but said no damages should be awarded.

The judge said the determination the court needed to make in this case revolved around the net issue of whether it was a case of nervous shock.

Ms Kenny, the judge said, was negligently given a false positive HIV diagnosis arising out of a mix-up in the testing hospital. In the period between the false positive and three subsequent retests in which Ms Kenny was finally reassured of her HIV negative status by her GP in November 2010, there was a month when Ms Kenny “was in a state of flux about her health.

Ms Justice O’Hanlon rejected the hospital’s contention that Ms Kenny received reassurance after the first retest 48 hours after the misdiagnosis.

Donal McGuinness BL for the hospital asked for a stay on the payout of the award pending an appeal.

The judge said she would grant a stay providing the hospital paid out €35,000 to Ms Kenny along with the special damages of €1,690. She had awarded €1,000 for counselling in the future.