Lab involved in CervicalCheck scandal estimates liabilities from legal claims at €49m

One of the labs at the centre of the CervicalCheck programme controversy has estimated that its gross liabilities from legal claims connected to CervicalCheck against will be about €49.3m.

The Dublin-based Medlab Pathology Ltd has been sued in the High Court by a number of women concerning alleged failings in the firm’s participation in HSE’s CervicalCheck programme from 2011 to 2019.

New accounts – signed off in May – show that the firm recorded pretax losses of €17.8m in the 12 months to the end of June 2020 chiefly as a result of the legal cases against the company.

The directors state that the firm’s results for the year were “significantly impacted by the recognition of the estimated net liability in respect of claims relating to the cervical screening programme”.

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They state that MedLab Pathology “holds medical malpractice liability insurance and almost all claims arising are covered by this insurance”.

A note attached to the accounts concerning the cost of the claims puts an estimate of €49.32m on the company’s gross legal provision.

After taking into account insurance receivable of €30.95m from the claims, the firm’s estimated net liability from the claims is €18.37m.

The note states that “included in the gross liability is an estimate for future claims, based on data access requests received”.

The note adds that “in relation to the small number of claims for which the insurers have not yet confirmed indemnity, we used our best judgment of the liability, based on the most reliable information available”.

The directors state that subsequent to the end of 2020, there has also been the settlement and discontinuance of a number of the claims.

The company’s revenues for 2020 totalled €9.7m, a drop of 25 per cent on the 2019 revenues of €12.95m, mainly due to the impact of Covid-19.

Earlier this year in a written Dáil reply, the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly confirmed that the State Claims Agency (SCA) had received 381 CervicalCheck claims including psychological claims brought by family members.

Minister Donnelly confirmed that in relation to the 381 claims received 212 were active and not yet concluded, 169 have concluded.