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Wrongful Death Trauma Compensation of €28,000 Awarded to Dead Woman’s Niece

It has been decided that largest part of a €28,000 wrongful death compensation payment it to be made to a deceased 89-year-old woman’s niece.
The woman passed away in 2009 due to a bacterial infection in 2009.

Once €7,890 for funeral expenses are accounted for the niece is to receive the should get the rest of the compensation awarded according to the decision of Judge Justice Garrett Simons. A settlement offer of €28,000 was made, and accepted, in 2015. Subsequently the High Court was then asked to decide if the offer was fair. Sadly, the deceased woman’s sister – who was a dependent, died since the offer was made. Due to this, in August 2016, the court had to come to a decision as to whether the compensation settlement should paid in its entirety to the niece.

The niece originally submitted the wrongful death compensation claim against the nursing home where her aunt had been living before her death and the Dublin hospital where she was treated just before she died. The complete compensation sum being claimed was €33,290.

The Court was told that the woman died as a result of a bacterial infection which led to diarrhoea and colitis developing. The coroner noted the official cause of death as “health care-acquired” clostridium difficile infection.

Before her death, the woman was living in a care home up until a month before her death. In October 2009, she was unwell and was taken to the Dublin hospital for some medical attention. She was sent back to the care home in early November. However, she was readmitted to the hospital on November 23 just a few hours before she died.

Her niece file the compensation claim action due to severe mental distress she suffered as a result of her aunt’s passing. The defendants refuted the claims that were made.

Judge Simons said that he believed that the step to take in this instance would be to direct the full amount of compensation to be given to the niece as sole surviving statutory dependent. He told the court that he felt the €28,000 settlement to be fair.

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