This article is from page 14 of the 2008-07-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
A 38-YEAR old Ennis-based sales- man who feared that he may die of AIDS and may not see his young son erow up after finding a needle em- bedded in his knee while in hospital, is suing the Health Service Executive (HSE) over the incident.
At Ennis Circuit Court this week, the man is seeking damages from the HSE in relation to the incident that occurred at the Limerick Mid Western Regional Hospital on May 1, 2005.
According to the claim lodged by the man, he was staying overnight at the hospital to be with his sick son, then aged two and a half.
The man slept on a mattress beside his son but at 6am woke to a feeling of mild pain in his left knee.
A YOUNG west Clare man has been charged with raping a 14 year old girl. The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Ennis District Court on Friday. Seeking an adjournment for service of the book, Inspector John Galvin said that he needed the case put back to prepare what would be a “lengthy book of evidence.” The man was re- manded on bail of €1,000 on condi- tion that he have no contact with the alleged injured party or her family.
On examination, the Ennis man discovered an orange-coloured nee- dle protruding from his knee, with the needle puncturing his skin and drawing blood.
As a result, the man was placed in genuine fear and apprehension of having contracted AIDS or Hepatitis ‘oF
The man was advised to attend the accident and emergency department where injections were administered and, according to his claim, the pos- sibility of having contracted HIV was mentioned to him during his time in the accident and emergency depart- ment by a HSE employee.
At the accident and emergency de- partment, the man was injected with HIV antibodies and advised that tests for HIV and AIDS would be performed in due course.
According to the man’s statement of claim, he began to experience panic attacks in the period following the incident and frequently suffered from shortness of breath and felt a heaviness in his chest during which he felt he was having heart attacks.
The claim states, “These panic at- tacks occurred several times per month, lasting five to ten minutes each and were also characterised by sweating, shaking and pins and needles in his arms. The plaintiff suffered from disturbed sleep and awoke due to the panic attacks on several occasions.”
The man was subsequently referred to a consultant pathologist and he said that administering the HIV anti- bodies was the wrong procedure. The consultant confirmed that there were concerns regarding the man having
contracted HIV or AIDS.
“The plaintiff was unclear as to the level of risk.
“He became even more concerned about his health as time went on and came to the view that he was going to get AIDS, that he would die a young man and miss seeing his son grow up. He became irritable and suffered from loss of concentration.”
Subsequent tests for HIV and Hepa- titis C proved negative and the results came before and during a family hol- iday to Lanzarote.
According to the claim, the holiday was ruined and the man spent the entirety of the holiday sitting around the pool crying and worrying about his future.
The claim states that the effects of the “needle” incident on the sale- man’s life were profound. The claim
states, “His personality was funda- mentally affected. He became much less relaxed and less outgoing. He avoided going out socially. He had suicidal thoughts and was subjected to taunts by work colleagues who became aware of his HIV test. The plaintiff has delayed trying to have a second child with his wife as a result of his residual fear about HIV.
The man attended a consultant psy- chologist in May 2006 and she con- cluded that the man had developed an anxiety disorder and suffered consid- erable psychological distress arising directly from the trauma associated with the incident and the limited re- sponse and support provided by the sls ay
The man is responding to anxiety management techniques and cogni- tive behavioural strategies.