Arbitration to help women avoid court ordeal as cervical cancer claims rise
THE number of legal claims taken against CervicalCheck doubled in the space of just two months this summer, a new analysis has revealed.
Claims rose from 22 at the end of May to 49 by the close of July as details emerged about the failure of CervicalCheck to disclose audits showing wrong test results.
During the same time, legal cases lodged against BreastCheck rose from five to 10.
The pace at which legal cases were lodged comes as the Government is expected to suggest a form of arbitration scheme be established as another option for women who do not want to go public in court.
The legal cases against CervicalCheck are brought by women who developed cervical cancer after abnormalities were not picked up in screening.
They will have to prove the failure to detect the abnormalities was due to negligence rather than the limitations of screening in order to secure compensation.
However, many do not want the ordeal of going to open court and several of the women are now in poor health.
Judge Charles Meenan, who has been asked to devise alternatives
to court and is due report in the coming weeks, is expected to suggest that one option could be arbitration.
This means a case could be held in privacy with no names or details made public.
Arbitration runs in the same way as a court case and a woman taking the case would still have to take the stand.
Her legal team would call experts to argue her case as normal.
If she feels any award is inadequate or the case fails there is still the option of appealing to the High Court.
This right of appeal would be open to either party including any defendants, such as the HSE or the laboratory where the tests were carried out.
Earlier this summer, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar claimed the State could settle with the victim and then pursue the labs for compensation.
However, this has since been shelved.
Two of the labs carrying out tests for CervicalCheck want to be free of an indemnity deal that leaves them liable to pay compensation in the event of negligence being proven.
The State Claims Agency, meanwhile, declined to give up-to-date figures on the number of legal claims lodged.
It said that cases involving mediation are being case managed by the courts.
“These cases are proceeding in accordance with the schedules set down by the courts,” said a spokesperson.
Dr Gabriel Scally, who carried out an investigation of CervicalCheck, said that the existing three laboratories should continue to be used, according to his evidence.
However, he is to carry out a further probe into the CPL lab in Texas which was used until 2013 and outsourced tests from Irish women to labs in Hawaii and other locations without telling CervicalCheck.
He is also to do an analysis of the kind of accreditation used by the US labs, compared to the standard in Ireland which he believes to be higher.
The final verdict on the state of the labs is still months away until external experts from the UK do an in-depth look at test results and determine if there were any discrepancies found.