The High Court dismissed a wrongful-death claim against the estate of a doctor who treated Agnes Keane at Galway Regional Hospital in 1983, ruling that the proceedings were barred by the Civil Liability Act 1961. The court did not decide the health board’s separate claim for contribution or indemnity against the estate.
Mr Justice Quirke gave judgment on 2 October 2006 in proceedings brought by Padraic Keane, Mrs Keane’s husband and personal representative, on behalf of himself and her statutory dependants. The claim alleged that negligence by the hospital and Dr Fergus Meehan caused Mrs Keane’s death. Those allegations were not determined in this judgment.
Mrs Keane, who was pregnant with twins, was admitted to the hospital on 29 June 1983 with suspected pre-eclampsia. She developed fits and a convulsion on 9 July, and her twins were delivered by Caesarean section. She remained in a coma for 19 years and died in 2002. Dr Meehan died in 1991.
A personal-injury summons was issued on Mrs Keane’s behalf in July 2000. After her death, a 2005 order added Mr Keane as her personal representative. The judge held that the claim had been converted by agreement into a wrongful-death claim and was deemed commenced on 7 July 2005. The defendants were estopped from arguing that it had not been commenced then.
The judge rejected applications by both defendants to dismiss the claims against them for inordinate and inexcusable delay. He accepted that the delay was prima facie inordinate but found it explicable in light of Mr Keane’s circumstances, including caring for his wife and their children. He also found that Dr Meehan’s death alone did not establish sufficient prejudice, given the available records and the lack of evidence of significant prejudice from other witnesses’ absence.
However, the judge held that proceedings against Dr Meehan’s estate had not been commenced within the relevant limitation period or within two years of his death. Applying section 9(2) of the 1961 Act, he concluded that both the original personal-injury claim and its conversion into a wrongful-death claim were barred. He therefore dismissed the claim against Dr Meehan’s widow, who was the estate’s personal representative.
The health board had sought contribution or indemnity from the estate if it became liable to pay damages. The judge noted that section 31 of the Act might affect the issue, but it had not been addressed in argument. He gave counsel an opportunity to assist the court before making a final determination on that claim.