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During the birth process a baby may suffer a physical injury. This is called birth trauma or birth injury. A baby's size and position during labour and delivery can lead to a difficult birth and cause an injury to the baby.
The following are common birth injuries:-
Brachial palsy – brachial palsy occurs when the brachial plexus (the group of nerves that supplies the arms and hands) is injured. It is common when there is difficulty delivering the baby’s shoulder, called shoulder dystocia. The baby loses the ability to flex and rotate the arm.
Fractures– fracture of the clavicle or collarbone is the most common fracture during labour and delivery. The clavicle may break when there is difficulty delivering the baby’s shoulder or during a breech delivery.
Caput succedaneum – caput is a severe swelling of the soft tissues of the baby’s scalp that develops as the baby travels though the birth canal.
Facial paralysis – during labour or birth, pressure on the baby’s face may cause the facial nerve to be injured. This may also occur with the use of forceps for delivery. The injury is often seen when the baby cries when there is no movement on the side of the face and the eye cannot close.
If you or a loved one suffered personal injury caused by a birth injury, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
 
Infants 
  • Medical Negligence Birth Injury case settles for €1.25 million.
 
The development of cerebral palsy is the most common type of brain injury. The term “Cerebral Palsy” is used to describe a medical condition that affects control of the muscles. Due to an injury to the brain, the sufferer is unable to use some of the muscles in their body in the normal way.
 
Cerebral palsy is caused by an injury to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth. Problems during birth such as the baby not getting enough oxygen, or a difficult delivery in which the baby's brain is injured may result in cerebral palsy.
If a hospital is negligent in their handling of a birth which leads to a baby developing cerebral palsy then an action for medical negligence may arise.
 
The law in Ireland requires that a person must take an action for medical negligence within two years of the date of the event giving rise to the injury.
Where a minor is injured as a result of medical negligence, the two year period does not start to run until their eighteenth birthday.
 
If you or a loved one have suffered a brain injury which you feel is due to medical negligence, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
  
Adults 
Failure to diagnose and treat a stroke leading to brain injury in a person can give rise to an action for medical negligence. During a stroke the brain is starved of oxygen and other nutrients and damage can follow with devastating effect. A delay or misdiagnosis may result in brain damage.
 
Similarly, complications during surgery which result in the brain being starved of oxygen can lead to irreversible brain damage.
 
If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury which you feel is due to medical negligence, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
 
Breast cancer delay and misdiagnosis has lead to an increase in medical negligence actions being taken against hospitals and doctors.
 
One issue is that a mammogram may be negative, even for women with a breast lump, but a negative mammogram does not definitely rule out breast cancer. Another issue is that many doctors assume a diagnosis of breast fibrocystic disease because of their age.
 
Breast cancer symptoms vary widely - from lumps to swelling to skin changes - and many breast cancers have no obvious symptoms at all. Symptoms that are similar to those of breast cancer may be the result of non-cancerous conditions like infection or a cyst.
 
The earlier breast cancer is found and diagnosed, the better your chances of beating it.
 
If you have suffered personal injury caused by breast cancer delay and misdiagnosis, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
 
Cosmetic Surgery

Cosmetic surgery has become a growth industry in Ireland. The demand for such surgery grew by 64% between 2004 and 2008 alone.
 
There has been concern for quite some time that this industry is not properly regulated in Ireland. The result is that some members practising in this area may not be fully qualified to do so.
 
With cosmetic surgery there are risks of complications and injuries. Many cosmetic procedures, such as injections or laser treatments, are considered to be non-surgical, which means that a significant sector of this ever-growing industry is unregulated.
 
If you have suffered an injury which you feel is due to negligence in cosmetic surgery, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
 
Delay and misdiagnosis of other cancers

Improper tissue and blood sampling, coupled with inaccurate reading of hospital lab results, are the two main reasons for cancer diagnosis error.
A wide range of cancers-including both gynaecologic and non-gynaecologic disease - are vulnerable to such detection mistakes, while the absence of uniform standards to evaluate error frequency across hospitals complicates efforts to combat the problem.
 
As is the case with other medical conditions, there are many signs and symptoms that may indicate the presence of cancer. These may be observed directly, through imaging technologies, or confirmed by lab tests. However, these signs and symptoms of cancer may resemble those of other conditions. For example, weight loss and abdominal pain can be caused by stomach cancer or an ulcer. Pink or reddish urine can be caused by kidney cancer or a kidney infection.
 
A biopsy (removal of tissue for microscopic evaluation) is preferred to establish, or rule out, a diagnosis of cancer.
 
A failure of a doctor to identify a symptom as indicative of the possibility of cancer or the failure to follow up abnormal tests results can give rise to a finding of medical negligence against that doctor.
 
If you have suffered personal injury caused by delay and misdiagnosis of cancer, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
  • Failure to diagnose severe pulmonary oedema case settles for €25,400
  • Failure to diagnose laceration to the flexor tendon case settles for €25,000 

The decision of a person to attend Accident & Emergency or their doctor at short notice often indicates that the person themselves feels there is something seriously wrong.
 

Making the correct diagnoses when the problem is possibly life-threatening and beginning treatment promptly can be paramount to a person’s successful recovery.
 
A health care provider must be aware of the signs and symptoms of a life-threatening emergency and be prepared to treat the problem appropriately and skilfully.
 
A delay in providing the correct medical treatment can often lead to loss of opportunity for a person to make a full recovery and result in them suffering from an on-going medical condition. In extreme cases, a delay or failure to treat a medical emergency can lead to death.
 
Missing the diagnosis of a heart attack, aneurysm or other life-threatening problem can be devastating to the patient and family.
If you have suffered personal injury caused by a failure to diagnose and treat a medical emergency, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
Hepatitis C is a viral infection. Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus and was not identified until 1989 with a laboratory test becoming available in February 1990.
Lavelle Coleman was a lead law firm in the Hepatitis C actions for women infected with contaminated blood products and was involved in architecting the statutory compensation scheme.
 
The Hepatitis C and HIV Tribunal was set up by the Irish Government in 1995 to compensate, among others, persons infected with Hepatitis C as a result of the Human Immunoglobulin Anti-D or a result of the receipt of a blood transfusion or blood product within the Republic of Ireland.
 
Since blood is now screened for the presence of Hepatitis C infection through contaminated bloods is extremely low.
 
However, if you or a loved one have been infected and you feel this is due to medical negligence, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
 
  • Perforation of the Bowel case settles for €100,000
  • Failure to perform surgery on correct disc settles for €57,000
  • Surgical Negligence case settles for €30,000 
  • Nerve damage case settles for €55,000
  • Nerve damage case settles for €65,000

When a patient seeks or requires a surgical procedure, they are typically informed about the inherent risks associated with any surgical procedure. Patients who undergo surgery, however, do not typically anticipate surgical errors. Surgical patients reasonably believe that the surgeon and medical team performing the procedure are competent, experienced, and prudent enough to perform the surgery without committing surgical errors.

 
Unfortunately, surgical errors are not as uncommon as many would like to believe.
 
Surgical errors can be traced to poor pre-operative planning, errors during a procedure, or post-operative injuries.
 
While surgical errors can be made during any procedure, they are more likely during gastric bypass surgery, laparoscopic procedures, plastic surgery, and obstetric procedures.
 
If you have suffered personal injury caused by a surgical error, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
 
  • GP negligence case settles for €30,000
  • Dental Negligence case settles for €50,000

To ensure safe medication use, health professionals must be aware of the ‘five rights’ of drug administration: right patient, right drug, right dose, right route and right time.
 

Where treatment, medication or prescription errors are concerned, the question arises as to what went wrong, how and why.
 
Inadequate communication can contribute to treatment, medication or prescription errors. Poor handwriting, drugs with similar names, zeros and decimal points, abbreviations and ambiguous or incomplete orders can all lead to errors.
 
Prescription errors may stem from incorrect dosage, meaning too much or too little of the drug is provided. Most prescription errors come down to human error. Doctors may prescribe the correct drug, but the pharmacist may read it incorrectly. Alternatively, a doctor may mix up two drug names, and the pharmacist dispenses what is written, not knowing it is the wrong drug.
 
If you have suffered personal injury caused by a treatment, medication or prescription error, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
  
  • Vision loss case settles for €575,000 

Vision loss or blindness caused by a medical error can be devastating for a person. This can occur during the course of the administration of anaesthesia or due to other medical mistakes during non-eye surgery such as back surgery or other lengthy surgical procedures.
 

The loss of sight can be caused by damage to the optic nerve from a disturbance of flow of oxygen rich blood to the optic nerve during surgery. Surgery lasting for many hours, frequent transfusions and low blood pressure can attribute to vision loss.
 

Laser eye surgery can also lead to vision loss. Failure to treat or recognise conditions of retinal detachment, glaucoma and malignancy whilst carrying out laser eye surgery can result in vision loss.
 
If you or a loved one has suffered vision loss as a result of surgery, please contact us to speak with one of our specialist solicitors who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
  
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