‘Vicky would think Tony Holohan’s new book was self-serving revisionism’
CervicalCheck campaigner’s lawyer damns scandal account in memoir
IF Vicky Phelan was still alive, she would dismiss former Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan’s new book as ‘self-serving revisionism’, the solicitor who represented the woman who exposed the cervical cancer scandal told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
Cian O’Carroll also disputed Dr Holohan’s claims that the CervicalCheck screening service did not fail women.
In his book ‘We Need To Talk’ – which was launched last week by former RTÉ broadcaster Ryan Tubridy – Dr Holohan insists that not disclosing the results of a look-back audit was at the heart of the scandal.
But Mr O’Carroll this weekend sharply contradicted Dr Holohan’s version of events. And the legal eagle, who represented many of the women whose smear tests were not read accurately, insisted none of the 221 women affected by the scandal became ill and died as a result of not being given the results of an audit into their cases.
Referring to the conclusion of the official review carried out by Dr Gabriel Scally into the scandal, Mr O’Carroll told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Dr Scally said in his review that: “It is, in my view, entirely reprehensible to claim that, in the past, CervicalCheck was as good as any other cervical screening programme in the world. If you can’t bring yourself to acknowledge past failings, why would anyone trust you today?”’
Mr O’Carroll also said ‘we have Vicky’s own words to guide us as to what she might say’ about Dr Holohan’s version of what happened.
He added: ‘Vicky was very aware that from about August 2018, there was a clear shift in the communication strategy of the Department of Health, the Minister for Health, CervicalCheck and the wider medical screening community.
‘Everyone stopped talking about, or even acknowledging, misdiagnosis of cancer and would only acknowledge the non-disclosure of the audit findings. Dr Holohan’s book is just the latest example of this self-serving revisionism.
‘What Vicky said was that neither she nor any of the other women was dying from or had died from non-disclosure of an audit. She pointed out that she was dying because the HSE set up a dangerously defective screening programme.’ The solicitor said Vicky had ‘huge respect for and trust in Dr Scally’ and ‘would certainly agree’ with his opinion.
And he added: ‘Dr Holohan’s account is just another attempt at denying that CervicalCheck was a disgraceful failure that cost hundreds of Irish women their lives, or their health, and to perpetuate the denial of that failure is, as Dr Scally says, reprehensible.’
Mother-of-two Ms Phelan died last November, eight years after she was first diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014.
In 2017, she discovered that a smear test taken in 2011 by the CervicalCheck service and examined by an American laboratory had falsely given her the all-clear.
She took a legal case against the laboratory involved as well as the Health Service Executive whose then Chief Medical Officer was Dr Tony Holohan.
After mediation talks failed, the case was settled on the steps of the High Court in April 2018. But because the Limerick mother refused to sign a non-disclosure [NDA] agreement, details about her case became public knowledge and this ultimately led to several other women taking legal action.
If she had signed the NDA, other women would not have known that a legal case had been taken about the incorrect reading of smear tests.
In his book, Dr Holohan recalls he first learned about Vicky Phelan’s case from media reports.
He wrote: ‘On the morning of the 26th of April 2018, someone drew my attention to reports of a court case relating to CervicalCheck which had to the media attention. That was my first hint of what was to come.’
But, a week ahead of the case coming before the courts, a detailed memo was prepared to brief then Health Minister Simon Harris about Vicky Phelan’s legal action.
It stated: ‘Mediation discussions between the patients and the laboratory were held on Monday the 9th of April. The State Claims Agency [SCA] informed the department that no agreement was reached: the laboratory’s insurance company required complete confidentiality
‘Vicky was aware there was a clear shift in strategy?’
‘Publicity around the case/settlement is likely’
as a condition of any settlement and this was not accepted to the plaintiff... Pre-trial discussions with a judge took place on the 10th and 12th April; the matter may progress to the High Court. In its (SCA) view the case is likely to be settled shortly before going to court. The SCA is of the view that publicity around the case and/or settlement is likely.’
Commenting on Dr Holohan’s version of events in his book, Mr O’Carroll asked: ‘If Dr Holohan was the key person to handle the fallout from Vicky’s case as his book claims, surely he was considered a relevant person when the minister was being put on alert, that this was coming down the tracks, in this memo?
‘Perhaps the CMO was out of the loop but his department was clearly very well aware of the case.
‘He was the most senior clinical advisor to the minister so if he was not aware of the issue within his own department, it seems very odd, though presumably the records will confirm if he was kept out of the loop on this case for some reason.’
Dr Holohan’s spokesman did not return a request for comment.