CervicalCheck: Woman settles case over alleged misreporting of smear test

A 36-year-old woman who claimed her smear test taken under the CervicalCheck screening programme was misreported and a three-year delay in diagnosing her cervical cancer has settled her High Court action.

The woman, who cannot be named by order of the court, claimed she had to have two procedures for her cancer and claims she is entitled to very significant damages for alleged injuries to her physical and mental health.

Her counsel Jeremy Maher SC, with Patrick Treacy SC and instructed by Cian O’Carroll solicitors, told the court the HSE has admitted a breach of duty in relation to the reporting of a 2013 smear sample taken from the woman under the national screening programme.

The HSE has further admitted a breach of duty in relation to a failure to disclose results of an audit of that slide four years later which indicated that the original reports of negative for malignancy were incorrect. The HSE has denied all other claims.

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On the second day of the hearing on Wednesday, Mr Justice Paul Coffey was told the case had been settled.

Opening the case, Mr Maher said it was their case that if the 2013 slide had been correctly read the woman would have been referred for a colposcopy and a Lletz procedure and the abnormal cells could have been completely excised.

Instead, he said, she had to undergo very significant procedures to treat her cancer. It was their case that the alleged delay in diagnosis led to the woman having to have a second Lletz procedure and the procedures in turn reduced the size of her cervix.

The woman’s cancer was diagnosed in 2016 and it was at an early stage. Counsel said that while the follow-up was good from the medical point of view and she was cancer free there were consequences to having the second procedure.