Boss tells of ‘anger’ over tragic smear test ‘ blunder’
THE manager of a mother of two who has only months left to live – after a routine smear test allegedly failed to spot her cancer – has told of her ‘anger’ over the treatment of her colleague.
Dr Helen Murphy, giving evidence at the High Court on behalf of 43-year-old Vicky Phelan, said: ‘I’m angry, extremely angry’ – adding that she felt there had since been ‘a cover-up’.
Dr Murphy described Mrs Phelan as ‘an exceptional colleague’.
The loss of Mrs Phelan’s future earnings from the Waterford Institute of Technology forms part of her claim for damages, and she has told how she wants to ensure her children are provided for after her death.
The court heard on Thursday that Mrs Phelan was given the all-clear after a Cervical Check smear test was carried out in May 2011, and it wasn’t until another test in June 2014 that she learned she was showing signs of cancer.
She underwent radical chemoradiotherapy, but her cancer spread to her lymph nodes and she was told in January this year that, tragically, it was now terminal. A review of the 2011 scan was done by Cervical Check in 2014 – but she was not told that this had been done, or that it had returned an incorrect result, until September 2017.
Her counsel, Jeremy Maher SC, explained that if the pre-cancerous cells had been correctly spotted in 2011, and the appropriate minor treatment carried out, she would have had less than a 1% of a chance of developing an invasive cancer.
‘Vicky Phelan would not, therefore, have developed an invasive cancer. She would not have required chemo and radiotherapy. She likely would have survived to her early or mid-80s,’ he said. ‘Instead, she will die, as a matter of medical evidence, before the end of the year.’
Mr Maher said Mrs Phelan and her husband Jim, from Annacotty, Co. Limerick, had two children – a 12-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy – and that her cancer had caused them all great distress. Mrs Phelan worked as a manager of the Literacy Development Centre at Waterford IT before her ill health caused her to take a step back earlier this year.
Dr Murphy, her manager and head of the School of Lifelong Learning at WIT, said Mrs Phelan had earned between €60,000 and €70,000, and that she would earn up to €98,000 as a head of department. She said Mrs Phelan had the capability to reach this level, although she would need to obtain a PhD.
She said: ‘She’s been an exceptional colleague and has delivered excellent results; that would have led to her promotion.’
Vocational assessor Fiona Ryan told the court she had assessed
Feels there was a ‘cover-up’
the impact of Mrs Phelan’s diagnosis on her. She agreed with counsel that the cancer would end Mrs Phelan’s employment in the very near future.
Ms Ryan said the job was secure and pensionable. She added that Mrs Phelan was ‘accomplished’ and ‘highly motivated’ and would have been promoted to head of her department in the years to come if it were not for her diagnosis. She would have stayed in this role until her retirement, the court heard.
Ms Ryan agreed during crossexamination that a PhD would be long and arduous, and that there would be competition for a post as department head. However, she said Mrs Phelan was ‘very motivated’.
Mrs Phelan, and her husband, a carpenter, have sued the HSE, as operators of the cervical screening programme, and Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc, in Austin, Texas, US, which carried out the analysis and allegedly wrongly gave the all-clear.
Mrs Phelan’s expert will tell the court there were ‘plentiful abnormal cells’ that should have been detected, counsel said.
Both defendants are opposing the Phelans’ claim for damages.
The case will continue before Mr Justice Kevin Cross on Tuesday.