Cork boy injured while hurling settles action over hospital care afterwards

The case against University Hospital Kerry  and the HSE was settled for €165,000. File photo: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD

A young Cork boy who was injured while hurling and brought to a Kerry hospital has settled a High Court action over his care there for €165,000.

Fionn Barrett was six years old when he sustained a corkscrew fracture to his thigh bone and was brought to University Hospital, Kerry in Tralee in August 2020. He was in hospital for two weeks and later had to have three surgeries, the High Court heard.

His counsel, Richard Kean SC instructed by CM Haughey Solicitors, told the court the boy suffered a significant break that is often referred to a corkscrew fracture. At the hospital, counsel said he was taken to theatre where a splint was placed.

Counsel said an X-ray taken five days after the accident showed non-alignment of the fracture and further scans by September 2020 showed there was further fracture displacement.

Mr Kean said the boy had to three surgeries and was left with one leg longer than the other which, counsel said, has now improved. The boy’s side, he said, contended that Fionn had to have one or two additional surgeries as a result of alleged substandard care.

The boy’s mother Aileen O’Connor told the court that the family were unhappy with an offer of €145,000 to settle the case.

She said her son has not fully gone back to sport. She said the situation had been highly traumatic for all the family and she said she was talking about accountability for what her son had been through.

At that stage Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds adjourned the hearing for a short time. When the parties returned to court, the judge was told that the amount offered to settle the case had been increased to €165,000.

The judge said it would be remiss of her to do other than to approve the settlement. Fionn Barrett now aged 13 years of Enniskeane, Co Cork had through his mother Aileen O’Connor sued the HSE.

Family's claims

In the proceedings, it was claimed there was an alleged failure to manage or treat the boy’s spiral femur fracture appropriately and an alleged failure to recognise that splintage was not working, and that the fracture had displaced within three days of application.

There was also, it was claimed, an alleged failure to recognise that the splint had slipped and was no longer functioning as a treatment device and an alleged failure to correct the worsening deformity.

The boy, it was contended, was subjected to months of physical and mental suffering and he had to endure further intervention.

The HSE admitted a breach of duty in failing to act on the radiographs of the left femur taken on September 2 and September 11, 2020.

The management of the fracture initially, the HSE contended, was satisfactory and the option of using traction was reasonable and appropriate. 

However, the HSE admitted that alternative treatment should have been considered when the deformity was identified on radiographs on the two occasions in 2020. 

It also said that the boy’s thigh will likely continue to heal and any length discrepancy will improve as he reaches skeletal maturity.