A family who claimed Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) paramedics were negligent in failing to bring their 56-year-old mother to hospital hours before her death have settled their High Court actions.
Madeleine Ryan, a mother of four, died on June 18th, 2016, from pneumonia. This, the family claimed, was hours after DFB paramedics attended her home in Tallaght, southwest Dublin, and discouraged her from going to hospital.
David Ryan, her husband, brought a fatal injuries claim in the High Court against Dublin City Council, which operates the fire brigade.
He and a number of his adult children also brought four related nervous shock claims against the local authority.
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The cases were all struck out and details of the full settlement were not given in court. The settlement was reached without an admission of liability by the council.
The family alleged, among other things, that DFB paramedics were negligent and in breach of their duties by failing to take any or adequate care of Ms Ryan, failing to properly assess, manage or treat her, and failing to take or transfer her to hospital. The council had denied and defended the claims.
The court heard that DFB paramedics had a “totally” different view of their interactions with Ms Ryan when they attended at her home in Kiltalown Court, Jobstown. They said Ms Ryan did not want to attend hospital.
Declan Buckley SC, for the family, told Mr Justice Paul Coffey that on the morning of June 18th, 2016, Ms Ryan became unwell. A GP who subsequently called to her home diagnosed her with a lung infection and prescribed antibiotics.
Ms Ryan said she did not want to go to the hospital, having been advised to do so by the GP, Mr Buckley said.
An ambulance was called for Ms Ryan that evening after she become drowsy, Mr Buckley said.
Counsel said that what happened during the paramedics’ attendance to Ms Ryan was a “matter of controversy” between the parties.
The family claimed that DFB paramedics said the prescribed antibiotics should be allowed time to work and, on that basis, did not bring her to hospital. The family also raised issues around whether the paramedics properly examined Ms Ryan.
Mr Buckley said the paramedics had a totally different version of events. He said they claimed Ms Ryan was anxious on their arrival to the house and that she declined to go to the hospital.
Later that evening, Ms Ryan’s condition deteriorated and she was found unresponsive at her home. She was pronounced dead at 10.20pm. A postmortem examination found the cause of her death was bilateral pneumonia, Mr Buckley said.
He said an expert witness had concluded that Ms Ryan probably would have had a “better than a 50 per cent chance” of survival if she had been brought to hospital.
Mr Buckley said the Ryan family found it “very, very upsetting” that their narrative was disputed.
In a statement issued on behalf of the family, Ms Ryan’s daughter Stephanie said her mother was someone who “brought so much laughter and joy to those around her”.
“We have spent eight years trying to get some sort of justice for my Mam and we hope we have done that now and are very glad that this is at an end,” she said.
“We love her and miss her every day and we hope that we can now fully grieve and start to celebrate her memory.”
