‘Hardest week since my sister died’

A MAN who believes his sister was one of two Irish women told of their misdiagnosed smear results before their deaths has said he is frustrated with the official response to the scandal.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline, the man, identified as John, said he believes his sister was told of errors in her earlier smear test results.

He said that while medical authorities claimed that a letter was sent to his sister referring her for a new cervical check-up, she received no communication of this. ‘There is no doubt that if she had received a letter... I’m confident that any of the smears would have been in time,’ he said.

In an emotional interview, the bereaved brother – who is a PhD candidate in political science – told of his frustration with the response from politicians. ‘What I’m angriest with is the political process. I’m angry with Mary Harney telling James Reilly that this [American lab testing] option was cheaper,’ he said.

‘The Taoiseach said, “I was never informed of any patient safety concerns, of any potential scandal related to CervicalCheck.” The entire Dáil was informed. James Reilly informed the Dáil in 2008 that there was a patient safety concern.’

John said the slow release of information on the issue has made the past week extremely difficult for him and his family. ‘This has been the hardest week since she died, because you’re piecing together the information and the decisions that led up to the death of your sister,’ he said.

He added that his sister would never have wanted others to be dissuaded from attending cervical screenings, and echoed Vicky Phelan’s call for women to continue to get the test.

AS the cervical screening crisis enters its tenth day we are still none the wiser about the exact number of women affected.

Yesterday a caller to RTÉ Liveline said he believes his deceased sister was one of the two women out of the 17 who have died from cervical cancer to have been informed of the mistakes in her smear tests.

That grief-stricken families still exist in a state of bewilderment about the circumstances of their loved one’s death is appalling and a reflection of the shambolic way this crisis has been handled from the outset.

As if to add insult to injury, we are still awaiting information about the second tranche of 1,500 women who developed cervical cancer after the introduction of the national screening service but who had no contact with CervicalCheck.

Despite assurances their clinical history would be urgently reappraised, as yet there are no statistics on how many of these women had false negatives for smear tests, how many were subsequently informed of the problem and how many may have died.

The delay is bewildering and if it continues much longer, the damage to public confidence may be irreversible.