Woman awarded €500,000 in case against hospital

A young Co Louth woman who suffers from an inflamed colon has been awarded more than €500,000 in damages by the High Court today.

A judge found that her illness was not properly treated or managed by Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda and the North Eastern Health Board.

Michelle Myles (aged 24), Chestnut Grove, Tallinstown, Co Louth who in 2000 spent several months in intensive unit after her bowel ruptured sued the HSE (North Eastern Health Board) and the Hospital for negligence and their failure of duty arising out of their treatment of her for a colon condition more than seven years ago.

Ms Myles said she developed an inflamed colon, and was treated by defendant's between September 1997 and August 2000. The defendants had denied the claims.

Today in a detailed judgment Mr Justice John Quirke said that Ms Myles, who was under the care at the hospital by consultant physician Dr Jeremiah P Long, had "suffered very serious injuries," and that her care had "fallen short of the level of care, management and treatment required".

The Judge was satisfied that there was "clear and serious negligence," which caused a severe deterioration of her quality of life by the defendants.

"On a number of occasions Ms Myles was subjected to greater levels of distress, humiliation, degradation, discomfort and misery than would have been the case if her condition had been managed and treated by the application of general and approved management and treatment methods," the Judge said.

The Judge found that on successive days in December 1999 the hospital was wrong not to admit her when she was in severe pain, and advised her to go home and altered her medication. This, the Judge added, was contrary to proper medical practise.

He also found and that the hospital had failed to properly treat her by not providing her with an appropriately qualified consultant physician, when Dr Long was off duty, while she was a patient at the hospital between April 29 and May 2, 2000.

In addition the Judge found that Dr Long and the hospital had repeatedly failed to properly communicate and consult with the Myles family during the treatment of her illness.

The Judge added that the most serious breach of duty was when the hospital failed to give Michelle and her family "proper and appropriate advice" when they contacted them on the night of May 8 2000, six days after she was discharged from the hospital.

On May 8 2000, Michelle's mother contacted the hospital and told them that her daughter was in pain, she was told to give her two paracetemol and attend a doctor the next day.

The following day Ms Myles lost a lot of blood, and was in agony. When a doctor arrived he recognised that her life was in immediate danger. He raised the bottom of her bed to increase the flow of blood to her heart.

By the time the ambulance arrived she was sweating so much that the heart monitoring pads would not stay on her body.

At the hospital it was discovered that she had two ruptures in her bowel, and she underwent emergency surgery. Her colon became irritated and her wounds got infected with gangrene. In addition she suffered from hair loss and pneumonia.

The Judge said he was apportioning 35% of the fault to Dr Long in respect of this and other incidents and 65% of fault to the hospital.

The Judge awarded her €300,000 in general damages, €175,000 for loss of earnings, plus €27,000 for medical expenses. Mr Justice Quirke agreed to defer the issue of costs until after the defendants had an opportunity to consider his judgment.

Earlier this year, during what was a four week long hearing, the High Court heard that in 1997 Michelle was diagnosed as having an inflamed colon, and was prescribed a course of steroids.

Over the following two years, she continued to attend the hospital, but her condition deteriorated. Following the perforation of her bowl in May 2000 she was transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. There she suffered from complications and remained there for several months.

She was left with an severely scared, weak and deformed abdominal wall. Two surgical procedures which she was due to undergo in 2002 had to be abandoned. Michelle had suffered both physically and mentally from her illness.

She was unable to complete her Leaving Cert and is unable to work full time. She would have problems arising out of what happened to her for the rest of her life.

Outside the court Michelle said "I am happy with the outcome," and thanked her legal team, and the staff at Louth County Hospital, Dundalk and Beaumont Hospital for looking after her so well.

"I would urge anyone who has an illness that is not happy with their treatment not to be afraid to get a second opinion, and not to be afraid to ask their consultant questions," she concluded.