A FORMER LIMERICK senior hurler is now “a totally different man” from who he had been before an incident at a Johnson & Johnson factory that he says left him in chronic pain, his wife has told the High Court.

The personal injury case, which also heard that the worker is suffering from PTSD, is now in its fourth day after mediation talks proved fruitless this morning.

Mark Keane has told the court that ongoing injuries he sustained when he went to the rescue of a co-worker who caught his arm inside machinery in 2018 have left him feeling “emasculated and mentally destroyed”, while he believes he has been “let down” by the multinational bluechip company.

An accomplished hurler, Keane won three consecutive All-Irelands with Limerick under 21s between 2000 and 2002 and played senior from 2000 to 2006.

Keane has taken his case against Johnson & Johnson Vision care (Ireland) over the incident that occurred in September 2018 at their plant in the National Technological Park, Plassey, County Limerick.

The 43-year-old is alleging Johnson & Johnson were negligent and breached their duty of care towards him on 10 September 2018, while he was working as a technician making contact lenses.

Keane alleges the company failed to provide him with a safe place of work and a safe system of work and is seeking damages.

Keane’s lawyers, HOMS Assist, submit that this incident caused the plaintiff to suffer sustained, continuous and severe personal injury, as well as loss, damage, inconvenience and expense.

Murray Johnson SC, for Johnson & Johnson, has said the company “absolutely” accepted responsibility for the injury Keane suffered in the form of the nerve damage and injury to his right hand but did not accept responsibility for his claim of injury to his right shoulder.

Today, Mark Keane’s wife, Karen, told Michael McMahon SC, for the plaintiff, that her husband was a “totally different man from who he had been” before the incident.

Karen Keane said the accident had affected their marriage, family life, careers and mental health. She said things had gotten “very hard” and that she was “very worried about Mark and his mental health”.

“If he is late home, I am just hoping he comes home,” she said, adding that she sometimes counts to three at the front door before she leaves the house to prepare herself and put on a smile.

Professor Dominic Harmon, a consultant in anaesthesia and pain medicine, said he assessed Keane in 2021 and compiled a medical legal report in 2024 on MRI scans and injections the plaintiff underwent.

Harmon said it was his diagnosis that the injuries to Keane were consistent with the incident at the factory. He said Keane had been in a 2014 car crash that damaged a hip and his lower back but had been pain-free in the period before the incident at the factory.

Harmon said Keane suffered “more than one impact and that goes to the finger, to the elbow, to the shoulder, to the neck”.

Harmon was asked to give an estimate for how long Keane will need treatment for his injuries, including his shoulder, and estimated “three-to-five years”.

When asked from where he believed the injuries originated, Harmon said “from the one work-related injury”.

Harmon said he was also a qualified psychologist and had diagnosed Keane as suffering with PTSD.

Harmon is also recognised in sports pain medicine and said that “you would not expect a hurling player to have these issues with the neck and shoulder”.

Dr Cian Aherne, a clinical psychologist, told Andrew Walker SC, also for the plaintiff, that he assessed Keane in April 2024 and also concluded that Keane’s symptoms were consistent with PTSD.

Aherne said the plaintiff retained a “very vivid memory of every single aspect of the event”, and that he suffered flashbacks and nightmares.

The witness said Keane suffered with “catastrophising regret” at what happened and that the plaintiff had said that the machine had been “defective” and was found not to be up to standard “a few days prior to the incident”.

He said Keane suffered anger, anxiety, trauma and felt useless and stigmatised in that he could no longer provide for his family.

Aherne said that the plaintiff was “far, far above the general requirement” for a PTSD diagnosis.