Archive for Category: Injured in Accident in Hospital

A report has revealed that Scouting Ireland  was conscious that there was a high chance of sexual abuse compensation claims being made against it as far back as 2018.

These revelations come following a report revealed the systematic failure of Scouting Ireland to prevent child abuse and ensure the safety of its members.

On December 10th, 2018, former board chairperson of Scouting Ireland, Aisling Kelly informed a group of senior Scouting Ireland volunteers that there was a chance that legal actions submitted against the organisation linked to “extensive, prolonged, and at times organised child sexual abuse”.

It has been reported in The Irish Times that Scouting Ireland recently agreed a compensation settlement in excess of €100,000 for a man who alleged he was sexually abused when he was a member of the CBSI as a child. In addition to this Scouting Ireland has moved to move aside a fund of €2.5 million to pay forthe costs of legal claims and cases from survivors.

The report, complied by child protection expert Ian Elliott, revealed the outcomes and recommendations It was commissioned to complete by Scouting Ireland and showed up the extent of the historic abuse at the scouting groups and described how the act failed to act in the interests of the young children iun their care.

Scouting Ireland issued a public apology to the victims following the publication of the report. Scouting Ireland ChairAdrian Tennant said that since learning of the abuse scandal Scouting Ireland had moved to “own” responsibility for addressing the past failings of the group

The report referred to the environment of the scouting groups in Ireland which showed widespread “cronyism” and an absence of adequate governance. This, it claimed, allowed cases of child abuse to go unreported to the proper authorities. Scouting Ireland was labelled a “seriously dysfunctional organisation”, with “sex offenders dominating the leadership for decades”. The report said that there was a “systematic failure” of the organisations to maintain appropriate records of reports of alleged child abuse allegations.

A woman, who suffered a fractured spine in an accident at Dublin´s Mater Hospital, has been awarded €58,500 injury compensation for a fall in hospital.

The seventy-nine year old woman from Finglas in Dublin made her claim for injury compensation for a fall in hospital after the events of April 2015 when she visited the Mater Hospital for routine day surgery. The gastroscopy procedure she had been scheduled for went well, but she was left unattended in the recovery unit after the procedure and, while trying to get out of bed, she fell.

The woman suffered a fractured spine as a result of the accident and, rather than return home that evening as she was supposed to, she spent nearly a month in the hospital recovering from her injury. She was then transferred to the Clontarf Hospital in Dublin, where she spent a further three months as an inpatient receiving specialist care in the orthopaedic unit.

Now requiring regular care, the formerly active and independent woman wears a lumbar brace and needs the assistance of a Zimmer frame to walk. After seeking legal advice, she claimed injury compensation for a fall in a hospital against the Mater Hospital, alleging the hospital staff were negligent by failing to monitor her throughout her recovery.

At the Circuit Civil Court, Judge James O´Donohoe heard the woman had been previously hospitalised due to a fall at her home and, aware of this, the hospital should have monitored her at all times in compliance with its falls prevention policy. Unfortunately – according to an expert witness appearing on behalf of the woman – the hospital failed in its duty of care.

Commenting the plaintiff was not the same woman as she had been prior to her accident, Judge O´Donohoe awarded her €58,500 injury compensation for a fall in hospital. He gave the Mater Hospital leave to appeal the decision provided that a payment of €30,000 was made immediately.

Twenty-two settlements of compensation for negligent care at a crèche have been approved at the High Court. The settlements amounting to more than €1 million.

In May 2013, RTÉ broadcast a documentary – “Breach of Trust” – after an investigation into the Links Abington Creche in Malahide, Dublin. The documentary revealed a poor standard of care at the crèche, with several recorded incidents of physical and verbal abuse against the pre-school children in the creche´s care.

Following the broadcast, the parents of twenty-two of the children sought legal advice and claimed compensation for negligent care at a crèche on behalf of their children against Links crèche Southside Ltd, Links crèche Montessori Ltd, and the owners of the Abington crèche – Padraig and Deidre Kelly. The parents also compensation claims for the mental stress they had suffered.

The defendants entered a defence against the claims for compensation; but, at the High Court, Mr Justice Kevin Cross heard that the parents´ compensation claims for mental stress had been settled out-of-court, and that offers of compensation for negligent care at a crèche had been made in respect of the children´s claims without an admission of liability.

The offers of settlement were divided into three categories. Children who had been physically or verbally abused during the broadcast of the documentary were offered up to €75,000. Children who had been in the vicinity of those who had been abused were offered lesser amounts, while those who were present at the time of the alleged abuse, but not shown in the broadcast, were offered amounts of compensation for negligent care at a crèche starting from €40,000.

Judge Cross was told that many of the children had developed “behavioural difficulties” – especially around nappy changing time – prior to being removed from the crèche by their parents. The barrister representing the children told the judge that none of the children appear to have suffered any long-term consequences due to the alleged negligence. The judge than approved the offers of compensation for negligent care at a crèche.

The percentage of accepted awards made by the Injuries Board has continued to decline according to data published on injuriesboard.ie.

The six-month interim report shows that 16,162 applications for the assessment of personal injury compensation were received by the Injuries Board in the six months to June 2013. 5,286 awards by the Injuries Board were accepted during this period, for an average value of €22,349 – an acceptance rate of 32.7 percent, considerably lower than the acceptance rate of 37.2 percent for the corresponding period in 2012.

Despite the lower acceptance rate, the value of awards by the Injuries Board continues to rise. The total value of awards in the six month period (€118.14 million) was significantly higher than in the first six months of 2012 (€109.03 million) and was explained by Patricia Byron – CEO of the Injuries Board – as being due to some exceptional Injuries Boards awards – including their highest ever accepted assessment of €976,000.

Ms Byron commented that the higher volume of applications for assessment and the increased value of the awards by the Injuries Board should not be used as an excuse by insurance companies to increase their premiums. She said that preliminary figures for Quarter 3 of 2013 indicated a reduction in the number of applications for assessment received by the Injuries Board and that “a continuation of that trend could see full year volume increases being pared back to about 5% – on par with prior years”.

She added that, although there had been an increase in the value of awards by the Injuries Board, the reduction in the processing fee paid by respondents from €850.00 to €600.00 (usually paid by insurance companies on behalf of their policyholders) should more than counter the effect of the higher personal injury compensation settlements.

The majority of awards by the Injuries Board were made for injuries sustained in road traffic accidents (75.5 percent) with public liability claims for injuries sustained in places of public access accounting for 16.4 percent and compensation claims for injuries in the workplace falling once again to 8.1 percent of the awards made by the Injuries Board. The Injuries Board does not process applications for assessment when the plaintiff has sustained a loss, injury or the deterioration of an existing condition due to hospital negligence.