Family of woman who died of cervical cancer settle case over smear

The family of a woman who died of cervical cancer has settled a High Court action over the alleged misreporting of her smear slides.

The woman was in her 30s when she died 16 days after marrying her long-term partner.

The family cannot be identified due to a court order.

Her husband brought an action against US laboratory Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and the Health Service Executive (HSE) over her death eight years ago.

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His counsel, Oonah Mc Crann SC, instructed by Augustus Cullen Law solicitors, told the court the woman was diagnosed with cervical cancer in the summer of 2014. She was treated with chemoradiation, but her condition continued to deteriorate until it was reported in early 2015 as Stage 4 with secondary lung, liver, bone and lymphatic system cancer, she said.

The couple were married at the start of summer that year and she died 16 days later.

The details of the settlement are confidential.

The case related to the alleged misreading and misreporting of the woman’s cervical smears taken in February 2009 and February 2012 under the CervicalCheck screening programme. All the claims were denied.

It was claimed that in February 2009 the woman attended for her first cervical screening and the slide was analysed by Quest Diagnostics at its laboratory in New Jersey in the United States. The sample was reported back as negative and it was recommended that the woman have a repeat smear three years later.

In 2012, the woman went back for cervical screening and her sample was again analysed by Quest Diagnostics at their New Jersey laboratory. It was reported back as negative with a recommendation for a repeat smear after three years.

In September 2012, the woman began to complain of lower abdominal pain and she was placed on a hospital waiting list for a gynaecological review.

However, in 2014, it is claimed, she suffered bleeding and pain and went to hospital. An ultrasound revealed what was thought to be a fibroid in the wall of the uterus. A sample taken later from the presumed fibroid reported an invasive carcinoma.

Towards the end of August 2014, a scan reported that the woman had a probable primary cervical cancer and this was confirmed a few days later after further tests.

She was admitted to hospital and she had to have external beam radiation therapy and chemotherapy. During that time she had to have blood transfusions but she later deteriorated.

It was claimed that from 2012 the woman felt that there was something wrong with her and she repeatedly claimed she did not feel right but she felt no one was listening to her.

Following media coverage of Vicky Phelan’s High Court personal injuries case in 2018, the woman’s husband asked if his wife had been part of the CervicalCheck internal audit review but it is claimed she was not included. In November 2018, the family claims, her husband gave consent for her slides to be included in a review by the Royal College of Gynaecologists.

Her family claims the 2009 smear was incorrectly reported as negative.

In the family’s proceedings, it was claimed the woman’s cancer was allowed to develop unhindered until her diagnosis in August 2014, by which point the disease had metastasised with much less chance of curative treatment.