‘Mammy, please don’t die, don’t leave me’
Father gives evidence of daughter’s plea to mother with cervical cancer Ruth Morrissey the latest victim having to ‘fight for decent treatment in the courts’
THE husband of a cancer sufferer who is suing over the alleged misinterpretation of cervical smear tests broke down as he described their daughter begging her mother not to die.
“You hear her at bedtime say ‘Mammy, please don’t die, I love you, don’t leave me’. It is devastating,” said Paul Morrissey.
“I am devastated to think Ruth is not going to see her daughter make her communion, confirmation and marry; it is soul destroying and heartbreaking.”
He was speaking in the High Court on the second day of the action over two cervical smears taken under the Cervical-Check screening programme in 2009 and 2012. Mr Morrissey’s wife Ruth, who has cervical and breast cancer, sobbed as her husband gave his evidence. Earlier she told the court: “I am not frightened to die, but I don’t want to.”
Reacting to the case, Labour health spokesman Alan Kelly called on the Taoiseach and Health Minister to explain why another woman had to “fight for decent treatment in the courts”.
THE husband of a cancer sufferer who is suing over alleged misinterpretation of cervical smears broke down as he described their daughter begging her mother not to die.
“You hear her at bedtime say ‘Mammy, please don’t die, I love you, don’t leave me’. It is devastating,” said Paul Morrissey.
“I am devastated to think Ruth is not going to see her daughter make her communion, confirmation and marry, it is soul destroying and heartbreaking.”
He was speaking in the High Court on the second day of the action over two cervical smears taken under the CervicalCheck screening programme in 2009 and 2012.
Mr Morrissey’s wife Ruth, who has cervical and breast cancer, sobbed as her husband gave his evidence.
He told the court that he and his wife do everything together. “She is not only my wife. She is my best friend,” he told Mr Justice Kevin Cross.
He said his wife had been given a death sentence – and he feels anxious and stressed all the time. He said he is going to lose his wife, who he met when he was 19 and she was 17.
“My wife should not be in this situation where she has to face this battle. She is beautiful inside and outside.”
He said but for the media and publicity around CervicalCheck smears, they would not have found out what happened.
He said it was terrible to hear from her treating gynaecologist this year that he knew in 2016 of the reviews of the cervical smears two years earlier, but had not told them. “He said ‘I don’t know why I didn’t tell you’, and he apologised.”
Ms Morrissey suffered a recurrence of her cervical cancer this year, and was also diagnosed with breast cancer.
Earlier Ms Morrissey told the court: “I am not frightened to die, but I don’t want to.”
Ms Morrissey, who may only have between one to two years to live, added: “You have to dig really deep. You are not going to be the same person.”
She said she sees friends extending their families, and having more children. “That is taken from me,” she said.
Reacting to the case, Labour health spokesperson Alan Kelly called on the Taoiseach and Health Minister to explain why another woman had to go to court.
Deputy Kelly said: “Another cervical cancer misdiagnosis case is in the High Court, despite reassurances from the Government that those impacted by this scandal would be treated with dignity, and through mediation in a non-confrontational way.
“After what we have learnt from the distressing cases of Vicky Phelan and Emma Mhic Mhathúna, I am at a loss as to why another family has had to go public and fight for decent treatment in the courts.”
Ms Morrissey and her husband, of Kylemore, Schoolhouse Road, Monaleen, Co Limerick, have sued the HSE and the US laboratory Quest Diagnostics Ireland Ltd, with offices at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin, along with Medlab Pathology Ltd, with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin 18.
It is claimed there was an alleged failure to correctly report and diagnose and an alleged misinterpretation of her smear samples taken in 2009 and 2012.
A situation developed, it is claimed, where Ms Morrissey’s cancer spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014.
The court heard that the HSE admitted it owed a duty of care to Ms Morrissey but not to her husband, and it admits the results of her smear reviews should have been made known to Ms Morrissey.
The laboratories deny all claims.
The case continues.