Cork woman alleges untreated infection as a baby left her profoundly disabled

Independent experts said that were it not for alleged breaches of duty the baby would have avoided her injuries and disability

It is alleged that Jane Harte was born healthy but she contracted an infection and her condition deteriorated catastrophically over her first 17 hours of her life at City General Hospital on October 8, 1995. Picture: Pexels

A profoundly disabled Cork woman has alleged that a potentially deadly, untreated infection was allowed to fester for hours after her birth in a Cork hospital and has left her catastrophically injured.

Jane Harte, represented by her mother Olivia Harte, is suing Pallany Pillay, a retired consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist who operated City General Hospital in Cork before it closed in 2000.

Now 26, Ms Harte is profoundly disabled with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She requires 24-hour care and supervision and lives at the Cope foundation facility in Montenotte in Cork city.

It is alleged that Ms Harte was born healthy but she contracted an infection and her condition deteriorated catastrophically over her first 17 hours of her life at City General Hospital on October 8, 1995.

Three independent experts found that Ms Harte was born “in good condition” at 6am that morning, according to an affidavit submitted by her legal team.

But her mother, who was 16 at the time, said she remembers her grunting from 2pm that afternoon and alleges she could not initially get Mr Pillay to attend to her baby.

Baby rushed to neonatal intensice care

At 11pm that night, breathing rapidly and turning purple, the baby was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit in the Erinville hospital in her grandmother’s car accompanied by a midwife from the City General Hospital.

Her skin had turned a blueish purple (cyanosis), she was mottled, tachypnoiac (abnormally high respiratory rate resulting in abnormally rapid breathing). She was also grunting and was very poorly perfused on her arrival at the Erinville, staff noted at the time.

Her oxygen saturation was only at 70% and she was hand bagged with oxygen.

As part of her intensive care that followed, she was incubated and given IV antibiotics — ampicillin and Netillin.

Later that night, she began to have jerking movements in her arms and legs and was given more medication.

A diagnosis was made of Group B Streptococcus and Group B Septicemia with meningoencephalitis.

Medical records from the Erinville at the time note that the midwife who accompanied Ms Harte told the hospital that the baby had been “grunting” throughout the day while at City General Hospital. 

She also described Jane as having become tachypnoeic in the hour prior to their arrival at 11pm.

Clinical signs for streptococcus sepsis

Consultant neonatologist Michael Munro, said in an affidavit provided by the plaintiff that as grunting is a clinical sign for streptococcus sepsis, it “is not something a midwife could mistake".

It was also noted by Dr Pillay that Ms Harte had been a "very poor feeder” after birth according to a letter written on October 24, 1995.

Grunting, poor feeding, respiratory distress, tachypnoea and unstable temperature are clinical signs of neonatal streptococcus sepsis, Simon Mitchell, consultant neonatologist, an independent medical expert contacted by the plaintiff, noted.

Dr Pallany Pillay at Cork City General Hospital in 1988; his defence has called for the alleged medical negligence case against him to be dismissed.

It is alleged that Dr Pillay is responsible for Ms Harte’s injuries as he did not investigate her condition earlier that day and failed to diagnose and treat infection.

Independent experts told Ms Harte’s legal team that were it not for these alleged breaches of duty, the baby would have avoided her injuries and disability.

But Mr Pillay’s defence called for the alleged medical negligence case against him to be dismissed.

It is “unfair” to expect Mr Pillay to defend the case 25 years after the events which gave rise to the claim, defence solicitor Fiona Brasil said in an affidavit.

Mr Pillay said, through his lawyers, he has no personal recollection of the plaintiff, or of the circumstances of her birth or her attendance at the hospital.

It was also argued “missing evidence” compromised the case.

Birth records destroyed

Mr Pillay had destroyed records of the plaintiff’s birth and its aftermath in 2013 when records from the hospital, which closed in 2000, were shredded.

But David O’Malley, solicitor for the plaintiff, said in an affidavit that although the destruction of records was “regrettable”, enough medical evidence survived from the time and his client had "a very strong case".

Senior counsel for the defence, Adrienne Egan, said they had requested additional “necessary” medical records from the HSE but were told that they are in storage and could not be located.

“It might need some nudge to produce them,” she said.

“We can’t put on Affidavit what our response to the allegations is at the moment because of the missing evidence,” Ms Egan said at a sitting of the High Court in Cork.

Junior counsel for the plaintiff Doireann O’Mahony said that she had also been trying to access the records since late 2019.

SC for the plaintiff John Healy argued that requesting more documents would delay the process further and may mean that some medical reports already furnished may be out of date at that stage.

Justice Miriam O’Regan adjourned the case for mention next Thursday.

She said that justice to both sides was paramount in the case.

Retrieving the missing documents would be beneficial to both sides, she said.