HSE dragging victims through courts despite pledge by the Taoiseach
VICTIMS of the CervicalCheck scandal are being hauled through the courts, despite pledges from the Taoiseach and Health Minister this would not happen.
The accusation was made in the High Court by Patrick Treacy SC, representing motherof-five Emma Mhic Mhathúna, who has terminal cancer after getting two incorrect smear tests.
Last month, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris said everything would be done for the victims, and nobody would be forced to go to court. They said victims would be offered mediation services. However, the failure of the HSE to admit liability contradicts the politicians’ promises.
On May 2, panic gripped the country after it was revealed CervicalCheck failed to inform 209 women, and the relatives of 18 women who had died, of an incorrect smear test result.
The scandal broke after Limerick mother-of-two Vicky Phelan’s High Court battle following an incorrect test diagnosis in 2011 which resulted in her developing cancer in 2014.
In response to the outcry, Mr Varadkar said at the time: “We will need a scheme of redress for women whose cancer was missed, beyond normal error.”
The Taoiseach also told the Dáil that Attorney General Séamus Woulfe has been asked to work with the State Claims Agency (SCA) to settle outstanding cervical cancer cases that are similar to that of Ms Phelan, and where possible through mediation before they go to court. He confirmed he asked Mr Woulfe to settle cases “quickly” without legal action.
Speaking at a press conference on May 11 he said the “State is going to be on the side of the women rather than enjoined with the lab”. In a television interview, he indicated the State would settle with the women involved and pursue the laboratory afterwards.
Mr Harris said: “It is wrong
that any terminally ill woman would be dragged through the courts.” He also promised: “We are going to ensure that no woman ever finds herself in Vicky Phelan’s place again.”
The number of cases being handled by the SCA relating to the CervicalCheck cancer screening programme has now risen to 20. The SCA said it was committed to using mediation.
However, Ms Mhic Mhathúna is currently embroiled in legal action. The legal team for the laboratory Quest Diagnostics has been driving the defence, while the State and the HSE have taken a passive role.
Cian O’Carroll, solicitor for Ms Mhic Mhathúna, wrote to the HSE solicitors and said it was “not unreasonable” to expect this would be dealt with differently. He also said it was not unreasonable to assume that the State would admit liability, and address the consequences of that liability “in a rapid and humane manner”.
Instead it was outsourcing an “aggressive defence approach” to the US laboratory “in a conscious act of hypocrisy”.
CervicalCheck is also delaying the release of personal files relating to other women, despite assurances to co-operate promptly.