A four-year-old girl was left with her eyelids glued together in the 'extremely distressing' incident at Crumlin Hospital, Dublin - her family has now been handed £12,000 in compensation

A four-year-old girl had to be rushed to another hospital when a doctor accidentally glued her eyelids together, a court heard.

Saoirse Feeney, now aged eight, was said to have had her eyes sealed shut after the "extremely distressing" incident involving "copious glue use" at Crumlin Hospital, Dublin. Her family has now been handed a €15,000 (£12,000) settlement by an Irish court after they sued Children’s Health Ireland over the incident in August 2022.

The court heard that she was taken to A&E by her mum after hitting her head on a wooden table in the family home, leaving her with a cut above her eye. Her mum, who is a paediatric nurse, had applied butterfly stitches to stem the bleeding.

When Saoirse was taken through for treatment, doctors decided to glue the cut together, said Barrister Anita Finucane, representing the girl's family, - but "copious glue use" resulted in the adhesive entering Saoirse’s eye. Saoirse’s left eye was glued shut in the aftermath, she told Judge Sinead Ní Chúlachain, leading to concerns over long-term impact on the girl's eyesight.

The girl was taken to Temple Street Children’s hospital to have her eyelids separated, and four rounds of irrigation treatment with three litres of fluid was needed to remove the glue, reported RTE. Ms Finucane said: "The irrigation procedure was an extremely distressing event."

Saoirse was left with what her barrister described as a large amount of glue on her eyebrows, while the glue and irrigation treatment caused some of her bottom eyelashes to fall out.

Other eyelashes had turned inwards, causing her further discomfort. The girl also required antibiotic eye drops applied four times daily for six weeks after the incident.

Ms Finucane said Saoirse appeared very self-conscious when she returned to school nine days after the incident. In a brief conversation with the judge, Saoirse said she did not remember any of her experiences at the hospital.

The family went on to sue Children’s Health Ireland. The body, which runs paediatric services in the Republic of Ireland, offered a €15,000 (£12,000) settlement, which was accepted by the judge.

Judge Ní Chúlachain said Saoirse had been fortunate that the incident left her with no permanent injury to her eye, adding that the sum was at the top end of recommended compensation for transient eye injury.