Boy injured while playing hurling settles action over hospital care for €165,000

A Co Cork boy who was injured while hurling and brought to a Kerry hospital has settled a High Court action over his care there for €165,000.Fionn Barrett was six years old when he sustained a corkscrew fracture to his thigh bone during the incident in August 2020. He was brought to University Hospital Kerry in Tralee.He was in hospital for two weeks and later had to have three surgeries, the court heard. Richard Kean, counsel for Fionn, told the court the boy suffered a significant break. At the hospital he was taken to theatre where a splint was placed, counsel said.READ MORECounsel said an X-ray taken five days after the incident showed non-alignment of the fracture, and further scans by September 2020 showed there was further fracture displacement.Kean said the boy had to undergo three surgeries and was left with one leg longer than the other, which has now improved, counsel said.The boy’s side contended that Fionn had to have one or two additional surgeries as a result of alleged substandard care.Aileen O’Connor, the boy’s mother, told the court that the family were unhappy with an offer of €145,000 to settle the case. She said her son has not fully returned to sport. O’Connor said the situation had been highly traumatic for all the family and she said she was talking about accountability for what her son had been through.At that stage, Judge Leonie Reynolds adjourned the hearing for a short time. When the parties returned to court, the judge was told that the amount offered to settle the case had been increased to €165,000.The judge said it would be remiss of her to do other than to approve the settlement.Fionn, now aged 13, of Enniskeane, Co Cork, had, through his mother, sued the Health Service Executive. In the proceedings, it was claimed there was an alleged failure to manage or treat the boy’s spiral femur fracture appropriately and an alleged failure to recognise that splintage was not working, and that the fracture had displaced within three days of application.There was also an alleged failure to recognise that the splint had slipped and was no longer functioning as a treatment device, and an alleged failure to correct the worsening deformity, it was claimedThe boy, it was contended, was subjected to months of physical and mental suffering and he had to endure further intervention.The HSE admitted a breach of duty in failing to act on the radiographs of the left femur taken on September 2nd and September 11th, 2020. The management of the fracture initially was satisfactory and the option of using traction was reasonable and appropriate, the HSE contended. However, the HSE admitted that alternative treatment should have been considered when the deformity was identified on radiographs on the two occasions in 2020. It also said that the boy’s thigh will likely continue to heal and any length discrepancy will improve as he reaches skeletal maturity.