The High Court awarded a woman €40,160 in damages after a swab was left in her vagina following the delivery of her second son. The award comprised €40,000 in general damages and €160 in agreed special damages. The action concerned the assessment of damages arising from the incident.
The judgment says the swab was left in place after a ventouse delivery and episiotomy at Cavan General Hospital on 30 August 2013. The plaintiff developed back pain, vaginal soreness and a foul smell over the following days. She returned to hospital on 6 September with an infection, and a swab test confirmed E. coli. She was admitted for intravenous antibiotics.
On 8 September, a consultant removed the swab during an internal examination. The plaintiff said her back pain and the smell eased almost immediately. She continued antibiotics and was discharged the following day. The court accepted her account of the pain and difficulty caring for her baby while the swab remained in place, and found that the symptoms continued for about nine days.
The plaintiff also described emotional distress, including guilt about being unwell while her newborn son was showing signs of illness. The child was later diagnosed with a hole in his heart, which closed spontaneously. A psychiatrist called for the plaintiff considered that she had developed a depressive disorder. The defendant’s psychiatrist considered her reaction to be within the normal range and not a psychiatric illness.
The judge preferred the defendant psychiatrist’s opinion. He relied in particular on the absence of any reference to a mood disorder or antidepressant discussions in the plaintiff’s GP report, and on the fact that the specialist who diagnosed a depressive disorder had seen her only in 2016, when her mood was normal. The court found that she had suffered emotional distress, but not clinical depression or another psychiatric illness.
The judgment also addressed a perineal lump and a broken-down suture line after the episiotomy. It found no evidence that the suture breakdown was caused by the retained swab. The court’s award was for general damages and agreed special damages; the judgment does not specify a separate award for psychiatric injury.