The parents of a baby boy who died eight days after his birth at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda have settled their case against the HSE.
Maria Leslie and Thomas O'Rourke from Drogheda, Co Louth had sued the HSE after a feeding tube perforated their baby's heart.
They said no amount of money could compensate for the horrendous loss they had suffered.
However, they acknowledged they had been spared the stress and trauma of a trial as the HSE reached the settlement through mediation.
The High Court this morning approved part of the settlement to allow the statutory sum of €35,000 in cases of wrongful death to be paid to the family.
Barrister Doireann O'Mahony told the court the parents had settled their case against the HSE arising out of the death of baby Thomas.
The terms of that settlement were not disclosed to the court and the settlement was reached without admission of liability.
The High Court heard that baby Thomas was born 12 weeks' premature at just under 28 weeks' gestation at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda on 21 July 2014.
A feeding and medication tube known as a PICC line was incorrectly positioned and had to be removed. The line is normally inserted into the chest cavity and positioned in a main vein.
On the second attempt at insertion, it perforated the baby's heart allowing nutritional fluid from the feeding tube to leak into his heart. He died eight days after his birth.
An inquest into his death returned a verdict of medical misadventure. The coroner said the insertion of the feeding line was relevant to the cause of his death.
At the High Court this morning, Mr Justice Paul McDermott approved the payment of what is known as solatium of €35,000 to the family. The judge said it was a "very tragic case" and offered his condolences to the family.
Afterwards, the family said through their solicitor Kathrina Bray they were "spared the stress, anxiety and the trauma of a trial" because the HSE was willing to deal with the case through mediation.
They urged the HSE to engage in mediation in more medical cases.
They also said no amount of money could compensate for "the horrendous loss they had suffered", but added that they hoped to use the money for Thomas's three brothers.
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