Vicky Phelan’s courage has inspired more to seek truth
THE fall-out from the Vicky Phelan breakthrough court case continues with many more women who developed cancer now seeking answers about their treatment.
They saw how the Limerick mother of two, who received a wrong test result from CervicalCheck and developed cancer, took on the system and refused to stay quiet.
The intensified search for disclosure by patients is extending beyond cervical screening.
In the High Court yesterday, a woman who has advanced ovarian cancer sued over an alleged failure to take adequate measures to protect her from the disease.
She has a family history of ovarian cancer but was not referred for genetic testing.
Her solicitor Cian O’Carroll told the Irish Independent she would never have taken the action had she not read of Vicky Phelan’s court case.
Women are now questioning an alleged delayed diagnosis they had been suspicious of previously and are instructing solicitors to look into it.
The woman with ovarian cancer who settled her case yesterday was moved to question her case on reading of the CervicalCheck scandal.
“It gave her the courage to do something about it and take them on,” said Mr O’Carroll.
“It is a case of another beautiful family who were badly let down by the health service.”
So many of these cases are proving heartbreaking and harrowing.
The legal route seems to be the only way they can discover the truth of what happened.
For some of the women who have young families, there is also a desperate need to ensure they are provided for in the future.
There will always be cases of delayed diagnosis, mistakes and limitations to tests and screening.
What the CervicalCheck scandal has shown is that when mistakes were made there was a lack of candour, which has left so many women and families with a deep sense of injustice that is now weighing on them psychologically.
It makes the need for no time to be lost in investigating what went wrong so compelling.
Sideshows involving a dispute with victims of CervicalCheck about retrospective expenses are also not helping to restore trust. It’s why the cases to be heard in the coming year are about much more than compensation.