The High Court has reached a settlement with the parents of a girl who contracted meningitis shortly after her birth at Dublin’s Coombe Hospital, resulting in an initial payout of €2.6 million. The child, Soliat Asiyanbi, now 10, sustained brain damage and developed cerebral palsy from the incident and now uses a wheelchair.
The parents’ legal counsel, Bruce Antoniotti SC, argued that the medical staff withheld crucial information from the girl’s mother regarding the potential signs of Group B Streptococcus infection, a common cause of meningitis, after she was discharged. According to the argument presented, if the mother was better informed, she may have noticed signs of the developing infection sooner and not have delayed seeking medical treatment for her baby.
While the Coombe Hospital admitted to neglecting its duty to properly inform the mother about the infection and potential risks, they argued that Soliat’s brain damage would still have occurred. The issue of causation is still contested in this case.
The settlement, which includes a 25 per cent reduction due to the case’s litigation risks, was finalised following mediation. Soliat’s parents, Theresia Bakekolo and Ismaila Asiyanbi, from Tallaght, Dublin, filed the case against the hospital.
A month before the birth, a swab test indicated a mild growth of Group B Streptococcus in the mother, who was then treated with antibiotics. Soliat was born on February 4th, 2014 and monitored in the hospital for 48 hours due to the short span of the antibiotic treatment. The baby was checked on February 7th before being discharged with no apparent health concerns. Later tests confirmed the mother as being positive for the Group B Streptococcus infection.
Upon noticing her child was tragically unwell on the 26th of February – displaying symptoms such as refusal to feed, fretfulness, and vomiting the next morning – a concerned mother contacted her local hospital. Additionally, she realized her child’s hands were making twitching movements. She took immediate action and brought her daughter to a different hospital, where the baby was attended to in the accident and emergency department at 6.45am. It was then discovered that the infant had contracted some sort of infection.
During subsequent legal proceedings, it was asserted that the mother had not been properly informed or counselled about the risk of her child potentially developing a late-onset streptococcal disease, nor of the urgency required in circumstances that require her to seek prompt medical assistance if her baby’s health condition were to deteriorate.
Moreover, it was alleged that appropriate measures to ensure the mother’s awareness and understanding of the significance of Streptococcus B cultures, taken after birth that tested positive, were not implemented. Allegedly this led to a consequential delay in the child’s admittance to hospital, and the subsequent administration of antibiotics.
Emphasizing the fairness and reasonableness of the lawsuit’s settlement, Justice Paul Coffey granted approval, taking into consideration potential litigation risks related to the case. The case is set to be revisited in court in eight years’ time to evaluate Soliat’s future medical and care requirements.