Mater apologises for man left brain damaged after routine bypass op

The Mater Hospital apologised in the High Court to a taxi man who has been left brain damaged after undergoing a routine heart bypass operation five years ago.

Father of four Martin Byrne was 48 years of age when he suffered a heart attack after pacing wires were removed five days after his operation.

His counsel, Liam Reidy, told the High Court Mr Byrne had a heart attack and his heart stopped for 15 minutes which caused profound brain damage. Thirteen days later on Christmas morning 2010, Mr Byrne’s wife and children were told he had a significant and profound injury.

An apology given by the CEO of the Mater University Hospital, Mary Day, was read to the court as part of a settlement of Martin Byrne’s legal action with an interim settlement payout of €1.5m for the next three years.

Martin Byrne, of Cherry Park, Rathingle, Swords, Co Dublin, had through his wife Una Byrne sued the Mater University Hospital Hospital as a result of his care after undergoing a surgical procedure at the hospital on December 7, 2010.

It was claimed that five days later pacing wires which had been left in situ were removed and internal bleeding occurred during this process and he later had a heart attack. Mr Byrne was in a coma until February 2011.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross was told that when Mr Byrne was being discharged from hospital a doctor had written an apology on the discharge papers but the hospital had not admitted liability in the case until four years later in December 2014.

Una Byrne told the court her husband, was always an active man and had enjoyed camping holidays with his family and scuba diving.

“This has devastated our family. We worked hard all our lives. Just months before we had been scuba diving in Egypt. We thought it was the beginning of the rest of our lives as our children were working or at college,” she told the judge.

Liam Reidy told the court Mr Byrne had been admitted to the Mater emergency department with unstable angina and it was decided he would have the surgery.

When he returned to have pacing wires removed, counsel said, it was done by junior staff and afterwards Mr Byrne had a heart attack.

Approving the interim settlement Mr Justice Kevin Cross said Mr Byrne had “suffered something nobody should have suffered”. He had gone in to hospital for a fairly routine procedure and he was damaged in this way. He wished Mr Byrne and his family well for the future.