Woman with cervical cancer and in palliative care gets May date for damages action

A woman with cervical cancer who has sued in relation to alleged misinterpretation of her smear slides taken at different times over an eight-year period has had her case adjourned until late May at the High Court.

The 40-year-old is receiving palliative care and cannot be named by order of the court. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer last year.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross was told the case is more complex than the long-running Ruth Morrissey case in which a Supreme Court judgment is awaited. When the case was mentioned to the judge on Friday, he said, if the parties could mediate it, they “have my blessing”. Asked by Patrick Treacy SC, for the woman, if the court was recommending mediation, the judge replied he was.

The woman has sued the Health Service Executive, laboratory Quest Diagnostics and the Coombe hospital Dublin, which was responsible for the provision of cervical cytopathology and colposcopy services at the hospital including the processing, screening and reporting on one of the woman’s cervical samples as part of the National Cervical Screening programme.

The woman’s husband has also brought an action. The claims revolve around alleged misinterpretation of her smear slides taken at different dates between 2010 and 2018. She has claimed, as a result, her cancer was allegedly allowed to develop and spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer last summer.

The woman had in 2009 been referred for annual cervical screening and on December 2010 had a smear test at the hospital. The sample was reviewed at a laboratory operated by the hospital and was reported back as showing no abnormal cells. Other smear tests in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014 were reviewed at a laboratory operated by Quest Diagnostics and it is claimed were also reported as showing no abnormality. It is claimed the woman was advised other smear tests in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 had detected no abnormalities.

Claims denied

In July last year, she was diagnosed with stage-four cervical cancer.

The claims are denied by all three defendants. On Friday, Patrick Hanratty SC, for the HSE and Coombe hospital, had sought an adjournment to June 10th next. He said further particulars had been furnished and his side would not be in a position to deal with the case which was listed to start on March 27th.

Declan Buckley SC, for Quest Diagnostics, said his side were also not in a position to deal with the case on March 27th.

Mr Treacy said the woman is receiving palliative care. June 10th “would be far too late” and he suggested a four-week adjournment. The case will take about six to eight weeks to hear and the March date had been specially fixed by the court last December.

The judge said he had a letter from a doctor in relation to the woman’s condition and this was a case which was going to be more complex than any dealt with by the court so far in relation to screening. Accepting a March 27th hearing is not possible, he fixed a hearing date for May 20th.