The High Court has approved an interim settlement of €5 million in the case of a five-year-old boy who suffered a severe brain injury after a failure to diagnose an airway obstruction he had since birth.
Graysen Reid, born prematurely at just 26 weeks on 23 December 2019 in South Tipperary General Hospital, sustained a life-altering injury due to a lack of timely medical intervention, reports RTE.
He experienced serious airway issues shortly after birth, and doctors made several unsuccessful attempts to intubate him.
In the early months of his life, he was transferred multiple times between South Tipperary General and Cork University Hospital for treatment, reports RTE.
The court heard that despite obvious signs indicating an obstruction, there was no proper assessment of Graysen’s airway, resulting in “catastrophic consequences”.
In March 2020, he went into respiratory arrest and again doctors were unable to intubate him, causing a 30-minute delay in restoring his airway, reports RTE.
Graysen was subsequently diagnosed with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), a serious brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen.
He continued to face repeated airway problems in the following months and required multiple resuscitations before eventually being discharged in June 2020, reports RTE.
A referral to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, was finally made in July 2020, where his underlying condition was correctly identified.
During a procedure there, doctors were again unable to intubate him, leading to an emergency tracheostomy to save his life,
He was diagnosed with a Grade 4 airway and tracheomalacia — both conditions present from birth, reports RTE.
Senior Counsel Patrick Treacy told the High Court that because of these failures to properly detect and treat his airway issues, Graysen now lives with irreversible brain damage, including Grade 5 cerebral palsy and profound cognitive and physical disabilities.
The court approved a €5 million interim settlement today, which will allow access to critical therapies and a specially adapted home, reports RTE.
It was outlined in court that Graysen requires constant care, will rely on a wheelchair for life, and has many additional medical needs.
His family’s current home was described as completely unfit for a wheelchair user, and the damages will be used to construct an accessible home, reports RTE.
Mr Treacy told the court that the defendants admitted 80% liability. They argued that Graysen’s premature birth might have led to complications regardless, and claimed it was not guaranteed that an early referral would have resulted in a tracheostomy due to how invasive the procedure is.
The case will return to the High Court at a later date to determine the full extent of Graysen’s lifelong care requirements, reports RTE.
Mr Justice Paul Coffey, in approving the settlement, called the matter a deeply sad and tragic case that had “upended the lives” of Graysen’s parents,
He said the agreement was fair and appropriate given the medical risks tied to Graysen’s early birth, reports RTE.
After the hearing, Graysen’s mother Rachel Reid said today was “a very long and painful journey for our family”,
She said: “Graysen’s life has been irreparably changed, and so too has ours. What should have been a short hospital stay after his birth turned into years of crisis, fear, and loss,” reports RTE.
“Graysen is the heart of our family – he brings us joy every single day – but the life he lives now, and the care he will need for the rest of his life, are the direct result of failings that should never have happened,” she said.
Her statement went on: “The failures in Graysen’s care didn’t happen on just one day – they happened again and again over the first seven months of his life, when he was a tiny, vulnerable baby. The doctors we trusted to protect him let him down repeatedly, and there is no excuse for it,” reports RTE.
“The damages approved by the High Court today will help to provide the care, home, and support that Graysen deserves, but no amount of money can ever make right what has been taken from him,” she continued.
“The truth is that the people who really pay for medical negligence are not the hospitals or the State – it is the children, the parents, and the families who must live every day with the consequences,” she added, reports RTE.
“We hope that lessons will be learned from what happened to Graysen so that no other family has to endure the same heartache,” Ms Reid said, reports RTE.
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