Doctor glued young girl's eyelids together, court told

A medical error at Crumlin Hospital has resulted in a settlement for a young girl whose eyelids were accidentally glued shut by a doctor. The incident occurred in August 2022 when Saoirse Feeney, then four years old, suffered a laceration above her left eye after hitting her head on a table.

Her mother, a registered pediatric nurse, initially applied steri-strips to control the bleeding before taking Saoirse to the hospital's emergency department. A decision was made to glue the laceration, but excessive glue was used, causing it to drip into Saoirse's eye and seal her eyelids together.

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The irrigation procedure was an extremely distressing event.

The court was informed that the irrigation procedure to separate Saoirse's eyelids was extremely distressing for the child. She required four separate irrigations, using three liters of fluid in total, to remove the glue. For six weeks following the incident, she had to use antibiotic drops four times daily. A significant concern existed that her eyesight could have been permanently impaired.

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Saoirse had been very lucky there had been no permanent injury to her eye and approved the settlement offer which, the judge said, was at the top of recommended compensation for transient eye injury.

Saoirse sued Children's Health Ireland, the authority responsible for emergency treatment at Crumlin Hospital. The legal team representing Saoirse highlighted that some of her eyelashes had matted together and turned inward, causing her further distress, particularly as she attended school nine days after the treatment. She also had no memory of the hospital experience, according to her statement to the judge.

Children's Health Ireland offered a settlement of €15,000, which was recommended for acceptance by Saoirse's counsel. Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlachain approved the settlement, noting that Saoirse was fortunate to have suffered no permanent injury to her eye. The judge described the compensation as being at the upper end for transient eye injuries.

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Saoirse said she now had no memory whatsoever of her experiences at the hospital.