A woman whose baby was born head first on to the floor of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin as she was moved between beds has settled a High Court action.
LesleyAnn Flynn broke down in court on Tuesday as she told how she pleaded for help to get on the hospital bed as she was in advanced labour when her daughter Mabel was born on to the floor.
“I was pushing. I told them I couldn’t get on the bed. I said: ‘Please, please help.’ I knew the baby was coming. I then felt the pressure just leave me and the baby was on the floor,” she told Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds.
The court heard that a letter expressing deepest regret had been sent to Ms Flynn and her partner Ronan Keaskin earlier this month from the Master of the Rotunda Hospital in relation to the incident in 2018.
Penneys parent Primark to cut about 100 jobs from Dublin HQ
Lorry driver saves man from burning building in Dublin by parking under window
‘I sleep easier here’: The makeshift homeless community under the M50
Michael McDowell: The idea that the Kremlin has kompromat on Trump seems increasingly plausible
Opening the case, Roughan Banim SC, for Ms Flynn, said it was “a terrifying and frightening experience” for the mother “who felt she was not listened to and her baby daughter should not have been born on the floor, but she was”.
Counsel said Ms Flynn’s daughter Mabel was now six years of age and has met all her milestones.
He said liability was admitted in the case but causation was at issue.
A mother of three, Ms Flynn (40), of Baldoyle, Dublin had sued the Rotunda Hospital, Parnell Square, Dublin for nervous shock over the circumstances of her daughter’s birth in the early hours of December 27th, 2018.
It was claimed there had been a failure to anticipate the delivery of the baby and a failure to take any reasonable care for the health and welfare of the mother and of her unborn child during the course of the labour.
In evidence, Ms Flynn said she was on a bed and had contractions when a midwife came with a wheelchair to move her to another delivery room.
She said she could not sit on the wheelchair and was half sitting and half standing as she was moved.
When they reached the delivery suite, she said she was told to get on the bed, but she said she couldn’t because she was pushing.
After her baby was born on to sheets on the ground, Ms Flynn said she was in complete and utter shock and there was silence in the room.
She said after she was discharged home she kept playing what happened over and over in her head. She said she was worried about her daughter, but it was some comfort to her that she met all her milestones.
The hospital’s barrister, Eileen Barrington SC, representing the Rotunda with Rory White BL, put it to Ms Flynn that hospital records show the baby girl was crying regularly within a minute of birth.
Ms Flynn replied that when her baby was born, she was not crying.
On Tuesday afternoon, after a brief recess and talks between the parties, Ms Justice Reynolds was told the case had been settled and could be struck out.
