‘No one told us that Noel’s blindness was caused by medical failures’

Noel McCarthy has had to learn to accept his blindness, but his parents were determined he should be told what caused it.

Noel, 13, was yesterday awarded €3.2m after doctors admitted that failures in their care for him as a tiny infant led to him being left without sight.

But the settlement only came after his parents, Abina and Tadhg, pursued answers to questions that bothered them all their son’s life.

“No one told us that his blindness was caused by medical failures. Why were we not told this, we do not know. This was hidden from us. Surely, Noel was entitled to be told the true cause of his blindness.

“If the medical staff did not know what caused Noel’s blindness, then other babies run the risk of a similar tragedy occurring.”

Noel, from Mallow, Co Cork, was born prematurely in August 2001 at the Erinville Hospital in Cork City, which has since closed, with maternity services transferred to Cork University Hospital.

His parents say they were always led to believe his blindness was caused by his premature birth and not because of now acknowledged delays in treating him.

They are angry that it took 13 years to get this acknowledgement, which only came the night before the case was due to go to hearing.

“We had a lingering doubt in our mind that Noel was not treated as he should have been. We contacted Ernest J Cantillon Solicitors who investigated the matter on our behalf. They identified that there were significant failures in the way Noel was treated.

“In short, they delayed in treating Noel, until it was too late and then, having treated him, they failed to follow him up on a timely basis. Proceedings were issued in this case against Mr O’Connor and the HSE in October 2011. The HSE and Mr O’Connor, in the papers they filed in court, denied they were responsible for Noel’s blindness.

“Indeed, last week when the HSE and Mr O’Connor disclosed their expert ophthalmic reports to our lawyers, it was clear that they too recognised the lack of care provided to Noel caused his blindness.

“At 6.15 last evening, just a matter of hours before the case was due to start today, Mr O’Connor and the HSE admitted to our lawyers that they were responsible for Noel’s blindness. This was not accompanied by any apology.

“Noel was badly let down in the first few weeks of his life. The hurt we and Noel have experienced as a consequence of him being ill-treated has been compounded by the way we were subsequently misled.”

They said they were grateful Noel had finally got justice but noted the HSE’s admission of responsibility was not accompanied by an apology.