The father of a two-day-old baby who died after her heart was accidentally pierced in a medical procedure has accused medical staff of lying to them from the moment of her death.
Cóilín Ó Scolaí said the way his family was treated and the betrayal of trust they experienced after the death of two-day-old Laoise Ní Scolaí in the Coombe Hospital in January 2015 was extraordinarily shocking.
He said he and his wife, Irene Kavanagh, had only uncovered the truth about what happened after a tremendous fight on their part.
They said something needed to change to prevent other families going through the same thing.
Solicitor Stuart Gilhooly told the court, Laoise and her twin brother Cuán were born prematurely in the Coombe hospital at 28 weeks on 22 January 2015.
Two days later, their parents were told they each had a collapsed lung – or a pneumothorax - and would each require a procedure to relieve it. This involves a drain being inserted into the baby's chest.
At an inquest in 2017, the court heard, it emerged the doctor who carried out the procedure was not aware of the protocols for carrying it out on a baby as small as Laoise, who weighed only 2lbs (900 grams).
He went in too far with the needle, piercing her heart. She died that day.
'The legal process was harsh and gruelling': Father criticises lengthy legal battle to uncover the truth of how their two-day-old baby girl died in hospital | https://t.co/mIQY8h5pni pic.twitter.com/oRScG3zPIt
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 14, 2023
Mr Ó Scolaí told the High Court they had a long and arduous legal battle to uncover the truth of how it happened.
He said they were lied to from the moment Laoise died and continued to be lied to for many years afterwards.
He said, in their opinion, the medics cared about Laoise until the moment she died, but then they cared more about the reputation of the Coombe Hospital.
Mr Ó Scolaí said they had been told when the twins were born that Laoise was the stronger twin, but he said after she died, the narrative changed and they were "gaslit" and told she was the weaker.
He said they found it particularly galling that her short life of 42 hours and 27 minutes was being rewritten.
Mr Ó Scolaí said they were forced to sign documents relating to her autopsy and the master of the hospital prevented them from leaving the room until the documents were signed.
He said their son's file was snatched out of his hand as they read it and he said notes went missing or were rewritten.
Mr Ó Scolaí told the High Court that the medical profession was not only negligent, but continued to prevaricate and fabricate a line of defence for many years afterwards.
He said the way they were treated and the betrayal of trust continued to be a great source of distress to them and compounded their suffering at a time when they were trying to grieve the death of their daughter.
Even after the truth emerged at the inquest in 2017, he said it took a further four months for the hospital to admit liability and they, as parents, then had to prove they had been affected by Laoise’s death.
He said they could never forgive the cruelty of their actions.
"'Mummy, I really miss Laoise'. She’s part of our lives, but it’s really, really, really difficult": Irene Kavanagh on the loss of their two-day-old daughter who died after her heart was accidentally pierced in a medical procedure | https://t.co/qQ58pmQQu0 pic.twitter.com/UsuW3YUZVB
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 14, 2023
Even though their baby had been killed by a HSE employee who did not know what he was doing, they were the ones made to feel like they had something to defend.
He told the court that if the hospital had admitted the wrongdoing at the beginning, it would have saved them pain and torment and would have allowed them to grieve their daughter a lot sooner.
Mr Ó Scolaí and Ms Kavanagh said it had taken eight years to get to this point and they had still not been informed what steps had been taken to ensure the procedure carried out on Laoise was safe.
They said something had to change.
The court heard the matter had been settled for "substantial sums".
Mr Justice Paul Coffey approved the payment of statutory compensation to Mr Ó Scolaí and Ms Kavanagh for the distress they had suffered after hearing the money would be invested for the benefit of their three children, including Laoise’s twin brother.
