A man who suffers from locked-in syndrome following an operation at Cork University Hospital has secured a total €14.1 million under a settlement of his High Court action against the HSE.
A lump sum of €10 million was awarded to meet the future care needs of 32-year-old Eoin O’Mahony, Blarney, Co Cork. This was on top of earlier payments totalling €4.1 million.
The payment is amongst the highest paid out in relation to catastrophic cases.
In 2001, Eoin suffered headaches and was admitted to Cork University Hospital where he underwent brain surgery.
He later lapsed into a coma and suffered devastating brain injuries.
This afternoon, his mother spoke to Newstalk Lunchtime about her son and what it means to win the case.
She stated: “Eoin is in a wheelchair, he can’t walk, he can’t talk. He has a wonderful smile.
“He understands everything that is going on... We take him to anything we feel would be of interest to him.
“He enjoys the company of family and friends, particularly round the dinner table.
“It’s wonderful to see his smile.”
Presenter Jonathan Healy asked could he communicate with his parents to which Karen replied: “Only through his smile, really.”
She went on to say the family had quite a battle on their hands with their court case. She told Jonathan what it meant to win the case: “It was a huge relief to us.
“What we didn’t expect was how hard we had to fight for that. In cases like Eoin’s, there are two parts, you have to prove first of all that there was negligence. If that was admitted, then the second part is how much the award is going to be.
“We were 19 days in court at the last hearing and during that time, sometimes we felt as if we were the defendants, having to prove and justify every single thing that Eoin needed, even though we had looked after him for the previous 12 years on our own.”
She continued: “I think the system is wrong.
“One needs to be very strong to keep going and keep going through it.
“Sometimes I wonder if the State Claims Agency hoped that he was going to die before they had to give out this money.
“They don’t make it easy.”
You can listen to her full interview here:
