Man with 'devastating' brain injury settles case against addiction centre and HSE for €10m

High Court reporters

A man who sustained a "devastating and life changing" traumatic brain injury after he absconded from a Kerry addiction treatment centre has settled for €10 million a High Court action over his care at the centre and University Hospital Kerry.

The young man, who cannot be identified by order of the court, had taken a knife when he left the centre and was found later face down in a field with lacerations to both arms and a head injury.

The court heard he fell or banged his head on a rock and sustained a skull fracture.

The €10 million settlement against the HSE and The Grove Addiction Treatment Centre, with ed offices at Castleisland, Co Kerry, is without ission of liability and was reached after mediation.

Mr Justice Paul Coffey in the High Court was told that the young man who had a sad history of addiction to alcohol and soft drugs had earlier been brought to University Hospital Kerry after a suicide attempt at The Grove where he was in a programme.

His counsel, Oonah McCrann SC, instructed by Cantillon Solicitors, told the court the man who was in his 20s at the time, in late 2020, was itted to the emergency department of University Hospital Kerry.

In hospital, a psychiatric assessment was carried out and anti-depressant medication was prescribed.

Counsel said the view was that it was considered safe to discharge the man back to The Grove centre.

Ms McCrann said he was in a very distressed state and at the centre he was put on a “one-to-one watch.” She said the person doing the watch went on a 15-minute break and another person took over, but she said the young man “got out of sight and took a sharp knife and left the centre.”

An ambulance and gardaí were called, but Counsel said when the man was found in the field he had significant lacerations to both arms, and she said it appeared “he fell or banged his head on a rock.”

He was brought back to hospital where a skull fracture was diagnosed. Counsel said he has been left with “devastating and life-changing injuries” and now needs 24-hour care.

The man had, through his mother, sued the HSE and The Grove Addiction Treatment Centre, the operator of The Grove in Ardfert, Co Kerry.

In the proceedings, it was claimed against the HSE relating to his University Hospital Kerry visit that alleged substandard care had been provided and there was an alleged failure to take due notice in the referral letter to suicidal ideation, anxiety and agitation as well as previous suicidal attempts.

It was further claimed that an alleged inadequate assessment of the man’s mental health had been made, and he had been allegedly discharged from the hospital without an adequate care plan.

The court heard the HSE denied all the claims and contended the man appeared settled and was not in crisis at the time of examination. His discharge, it claimed, was reasonable in all the circumstances.

It was claimed against The Grove Addiction Treatment Centre that there was an alleged failure to prevent the man from obtaining a knife or from leaving the premises alone with a knife and an alleged failure to provide him with adequate one to one full-time supervision following his return to the unit from hospital.

The Grove Addiction Treatment Centre denied all the claims and contended it operated on a counselling basis and is not a medical facility.

It said when the young man’s level of wellbeing did not improve, was made with a doctor who recommended an assessment in University Hospital Kerry, which it said it promptly organised.

It said its residential unit is not a secure facility and kitchen facilities are routinely available to residents. The man was a voluntary resident, it said, and entitled at all times to come and go as he wished, and it was his decision to leave the unit.

Counsel praised the heroic efforts of the man’s family to look after him and said the settlement would make a huge difference to his quality of life.

Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Paul Coffey said it was a very tragic case, and he conveyed his best wishes to the man and his family.