© The Irish Independent
An award winning part-time opera singer – left severely disabled after a failure to properly diagnose the cause of her headaches – is to receive €310,000 towards her care needs over the next year, the High Court heard.
Two years ago, Elaine Lennon (38) settled her action for negligence on the basis she would get an interim payment of €2.39m.
Last week, the court was asked to assess future care costs. Today, Ms Justice Mary Irvine was told the matter had been settled on the basis that she is to get a further €310,000 towards her care for the next year.
The case will come before the court again next year when her care into the future will be assessed. Ms Lennon, who can now only speak in a whisper, is wheel-chair bound and will require 24-hour care for the rest of her life because doctors failed to diagnose an infection in her brain.
The court heard previously she would have been fine if a CT scan of her brain had been carried out in time. She was 39 weeks pregnant at the time of her injury in 2007, and later gave birth to a baby girl, Claudia.
Elaine, formerly of Newhaven Bay, Balbriggan, Dublin, sued through her father John Lennon Dr Patrick Mathuna, a GP at Castle Mill Medical Centre, Balbriggan and the HSE over her later treatment in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co Louth. Liability was admitted by both defendants.