Girl (12) settles case over alleged hearing loss diagnosis delay for €275,000

High Court reporters

A 12-year-old girl whose hearing loss diagnosis was allegedly delayed for a number of years has settled her High Court action for €275.000.

Nicole Ginnell, her counsel Aongus O’Brolchain SC said, was not diagnosed with high frequency deficit until 2015 when she was over five years old.

Nicole Ginnell, Ashwood, Knockcroghery, Co Roscommon had through her mother Caroline Ginnell sued the HSE.

It was claimed that Nicole, when she was 11 months old was assessed and a distraction hearing test carried out. She was referred to community audiology services after a test noted she failed to respond to most sounds on both sides.

Audiological assessment

She underwent audiological assessment at the Roscommon primary care clinic in September 2011 with the results recorded as normal, and she was discharged from the Community Audiology Service.

Over time, Nicole parents noticed she would not always respond when called and a school nurse noticed problems when she was over 4 years old.

She was referred for assessment and a consultant ear nose and throat surgeon made a diagnosis of moderate permanent congenital hearing loss which was confirmed by further assessment in April 2015.

The young girl was fitted with hearing aids and subsequent testing confirmed her hearing loss is stable.

It was claimed there was an alleged failure to diagnose the hearing loss at any time prior to March 2015 and where it was congenital and present since her birth.

It was further claimed that a delay had been caused to develop between her examination in 2010 where she failed a distraction test and her review by a consultant in March 2015 by which time it was claimed she had suffered extremely limited access to sound from birth to the age of 5 years and three months.

It was claimed that the little girls hearing loss was such that without hearing aids she would only have been capable of hearing very loud speech and would have missed most softer speech hearing only louder environmental noises. It was claimed had the 2011 assessment been carried out correctly, she should have been fitted with hearing aids earlier.

The claims were denied.

Approving the settlement Mr Justice Paul Coffey said it was a fair and reasonable offer.