Cancer scandal: gravely ill women in urgent lawsuits
WOMEN with advanced cervical cancer who were caught up in the CervicalCheck scandal are to issue legal proceedings as early as this week which their lawyers will seek to fasttrack through the courts.
The proceedings are being prepared on behalf of a number of women who are said to be “gravely ill” and whose cases require “urgent and immediate” action.
Cian O’Carroll, the solicitor who acted for Vicky Phelan, the terminally ill mother-oftwo who brought the scandal to light, confirmed this weekend that legal proceedings were imminent. He said he was aware of a small number of women who “are in a very urgent situation, just as Vicky Phelan was”.
The women will be seeking information but also have substantial care costs, according to Mr O’Carroll.
He said he was aware of women who have “requirements for palliative and endof-life care in the home, for all of the extra care requirements that one would associate with an advanced cancer, together with putting together a plan to provide for their absence from the family for the future”.
Mr O’Carroll said having that done as quickly as possible was imperative, so that they can focus on their ongoing treatment.
It is expected that in each case, the proceedings will be issued against the HSE and the laboratory that conducted the screening.
The women are among 209 who have been identified by the HSE’s serious incident management team which is investigating the “failings” revealed by the CervicalCheck audit that was exposed by Ms Phelan.
These urgent cases referred to by Mr O’Carroll are in addition to 10 active legal claims revealed by HSE Director General Tony O’Brien at an Oireachtas committee last week. These include six cases in which legal proceedings have started, and four involving solicitors’ letters.
Legal sources say a redress scheme promised by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar could take time to set up. He said the scheme would be for women “whose cancer was missed, beyond normal error”.
Ms Phelan is expected to meet Mr Varadkar, in the coming days, according to her solicitor. Mr Varadkar invited her onto the Government’s scoping inquiry last Friday.
Ms Phelan (43) settled a High Court action against a US laboratory that was contracted by CervicalCheck, the cervical screening pro- gramme, for €2.5m, without admission of liability.
She was told last year that a 2011 smear test was incorrectly read, and she was wrongly given the all-clear. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. In January this year, she was given a prognosis of six to 12 months to live.
Documents she obtained in her legal action revealed the delayed disclosure by CervicalCheck of the results of audits of her smear tests.
Ms Phelan’s disclosures triggered a massive investigation by the HSE, which has so far found 209 women who were audited by CervicalCheck after they were diagnosed with cancer whose tests “could have provided a different outcome”. Seventeen of those women have died, and 15 were not told they had been audited.
The HSE has so far been in contact with 198 women or with their families.
May 24, 2011
Vicky Phelan goes for a cervical smear test and is given all-clear.
November 2013
HSE introduces open disclosure policy on communicating with patients when things go wrong.
July 2014
Vicky is diagnosed with cervical cancer and undergoes radical chemoradiotherapy.
October 2014
Vicky’s cancer diagnosis triggers review of her original smear test by CervicalCheck “for educational purposes only” and she is not informed.
2015
CervicalCheck decides women’s doctors should be told of audit results and issues guidelines advising them to use their judgment in telling patients.
July 2016
Vicky’s doctor informed of her audit results and 15-month row ensues over who should tell her.
July 2017
Several senior HSE officials are told of disclosure row over cancer audit results.
September 2017
Vicky is finally told by her consultant that her original smear was missed.
Nov 2017
Vicky is diagnosed with incurable Stage 4 cancer.
February 2018
Vicky and her husband launch High Court proceedings against the HSE and Clinical Pathology Laboratories.
April 16
Minister for Health Simon Harris, given a briefing note ahead of Vicky’s case, advising of publicity, and that the case against HSE over non-disclosure of her smear test result would likely fail.
April 25
Vicky settles case against US lab for €2.5m and publicly reveals that she and 14 other women were not told abnormalities on original smears were missed.
April 27
HSE discloses more than 200 woman diagnosed with cervical cancer could have benefited from earlier intervention and a review is launched to find out if they were told.
April 28
Dr Grainne Flannelly resigns from CervicalCheck. Helpline opens.
April 30
HSE reveals of 208 women with cervical cancer who were audited, 162 women were not told about review and 17 are dead.
May 1
Dail told 1,500 women with cervical cancer were not audited.
May 2
Tony O’Brien, HSE boss, refuses to take full responsibility for the “cockup” at Oireachtas meeting, and reveals 10 active legal claims pending.
May 3
Taoiseach says women will be offered redress.
May 4
Sinn Fein says it will table motion of no confidence in O’Brien.