'They let Kitty Mae down on so many levels': Hospital apologises for 'deficiencies in care' provided to two-year-old Cork girl
Kitty Mae Hayes Rosscarbery Co Cork with her mother Lisa Ronan and Declan Hayes after she settled her action against Children's Health Ireland. Lisa Ronan and Declan Hayes speaking to the media outside the Four Courts Dublin this afternoon. Pic Collins Courts.
A leading paediatric hospital has unreservedly apologised in the High Court to the parents of a 2-year-old Cork girl who suffered brain damage after she was transferred there for care after her birth.
Little Kitty Mae Hayes from Rosscarbery, the High Court heard, has the highest level of cerebral palsy, visual impairment and epilepsy and her Counsel told the court of "repeated egregious failings in care at the Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Hospital, Crumlin which led to devastating consequences.”4
The apology from the CHI Hospital interim chief executive Fiona Murphy was read out as Kitty Mae settled her High Court action with an interim payment of €5 million.
It said: “On behalf of Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin, I wish to unreservedly apologise for the deficiencies in the care provided to your daughter Kitty Mae at the hospital resulting in the severity of injury sustained by Kitty Mae and the consequential distress and trauma suffered by you her parents her sibling and wider family”
It added: “We acknowledge and deeply regret the life-changing circumstances for Kitty Mae and her family and the devastation and suffering endured as a result of these circumstances.”
Liability was admitted in the case which was before the court for assessment of damages only. The €5 million interim settlement is for the next four years.
Little Kitty Mae Hayes from Rosscarbery, Co Cork, the High Court heard, had been transferred to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Crumlin after her birth in Cork on October 13, 2022 because of a systolic heart murmur. A vascular malformation, a rare vein abnormality inside the brain was discovered.
Her Counsel Jeremy Maher SC instructed by Cian O’Carroll solicitors told the court there were “repeated egregious failings in care” at CHI Crumlin. He said the condition was easily treatable with an embolisation of the vein.
He said Kitty Mae’s parents completely trusted the hospital’s reputation for excellence but that Counsel said was completely displaced and the “repeated failures led to devastating consequences”.
It was their case that the embolisation of the vein should have taken place within days of November 5, 2022.
A leading world expert on Kitty Mae’s side would say immediate action should have been taken and if there had been an intervention, Kitty Mae would not be in the condition she is in now.
Counsel said the public health system does not meet the needs of children with cerebral palsy and Kitty Mae’s parents have had to travel to Poland, Canada and the UK for therapies for their daughter.
The little girl’s mother, Lisa Ronan, who was in court with her husband Declan Hayes told the court of the immense toll on their family as they fought for justice for their daughter and liability was only admitted on the eve of the trial of the action.
Kitty Mae Hayes, Rosscarbery, Co Cork had through her mother Lisa Ronan sued Children’s Health Ireland.
Nervous shock actions by Kitty Mae’s parents have still to come before the courts.
The little girl who celebrated her second birthday just a few days ago is believed to be the youngest litigant with cerebral palsy to bring a case to the High Court.
Her mother Lisa Ronan told the court in CHI Crumlin there was a plan for her daughter who needed an embolisation of the vein in her brain but “the plan seemed to have no end date.”
She said her daughter had her first seizure on the evening of November 5 and continued to have “seizure after seizure for four weeks” and was given anti-epileptic drugs.
She said she asked and asked with “tears running down my face were they doing the right thing” and her daughter had been let down.
She said she and her husband were given minimal information and left on their own.
On November 28 an MRI scan showed profound widespread white matter injury to Kitty Mae’s brain and she said a doctor asked were they still willing to do the embolisation of the vein.
“Of course we wanted it done. They were willing to let her have continued seizures and let her brain deteriorate,” she said breaking down in tears in court.
She said up to then her daughter had “seizure after seizure and all they did was medicate and medicate.”
She told Ms Justice Denise Brett: “Just because something is rare it's not a good enough for reason. They let Kitty Mae down on so many levels.
"At the CHI hospital in Crumlin they have a slogan on the walls about giving each sick child the best chance. Do you think our little girl was given the best chance?”
She said nobody should pity Kitty Mae or their family as they are strong and they will make sure she has the best opportunities.
Outside court in a statement, the family said what followed after they brought their daughter to the Children’s Heart Centre in CHI Crumlin four days after she was born was “a nightmare sequence of errors.”
They said they were reassured and told confidently by senior consultants that the vein malformation would be treated effectively by neurointerventional radiology at another hospital and “and how fortunate Kitty Mae was to be a patient in the Children’s Heart Centre which they boasted to was the “best ward in the best hospital in Europe.”
They added:
“We pleaded with them to take her clearly deteriorating condition more seriously. Above all we are haunted by that inability to get them to listen to us.”
They described their daughter as the bravest, strongest and most determined little 2-year-old.
“At every hurdle, you overcame and you now a vibrant smiling and happy little girl with so much potential that we can keep building on thanks to this settlement,” they added.
Kitty Mae's case will come back before the courts in four years time when her future care needs will be assessed.
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