Medics had f ive chances to save my Michelle’s life… they failed her each time
Heartbroken husband hits out at CervicalCheck labs and GP
THE heartbroken husband of a woman who died after her smear test was repeatedly read incorrectly has revealed how the health service missed five opportunities to save his wife’s life.
In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Cathal Curtis said a review of four earlier smear tests carried out on his wife between 2010 to 2015 had all been misread.
Michelle Silke Curtis, from Oranmore, Co. Galway, was just 45 when she died in 2016. Her daughters Annie and Sarah were just nine and five at the time.
In a court case settled earlier this week in relation to the misinterpretation and misreporting of Ms Silke Curtis’s smear tests, it was alleged there was an additional opportunity missed in 2007 when she had a smear test with a GP outside of the National Screening Service. The Galway-based lab that tested this smear recommended ‘referral for immediate colposcopy’ and it was also marked ‘priority’, but the Galwaybased GP did not act on this advice.
Mr Curtis told the MoS: ‘In my opinion, Michelle’s life could have been saved five times. The experts may come along and say her final smear may have been too late at that stage, but that’s a technicality.’
This week, Mr Curtis, settled his case against the HSE, two laboratories – Medlab Pathology Ltd with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin and the US laboratory Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc based in Austin, Texas – and the GP Dr Saber Elsafty of Cappagh Road Surgery, Cappagh Road, Galway. The settlement was made without admission of liability from the defendants. The terms of the settlement are confidential. Mr Curtis is scathing of the poor management and lack of oversight that led to his wife’s avoidable death.
He told the MoS: ‘Her smear test carried out by the GP was sent to a lab in Galway and abnormalities were identified. The results were sent to Dr Elsafty. For whatever reason, Dr Elsafty didn’t refer her on. I can understand an admin mistake – they happen – but to deny and defend an obvious mistake when the evidence was clear that no referral was ever made; that’s the unbelievable part.’
He added: ‘It hurts me to hear people believe that the Cervical Check scandal was a communication problem. It was not.
‘In Michelle’s case, they [the labs] got it wrong four times in a row. Each slide is examined by a cytologist and then it’s double checked less stringently by another cytologist, so eight times her slide was examined. The probability of missing abnormalities would and should have been very low.’
After Michelle received her terminal cancer diagnosis in November 2015 she requested a review of her previous smears.
Her husband said that, on review, all four smears were read differently and showed abnormalities that weren’t initially identified. Mr Curtis also told how, four months prior to her death in 2016, his wife was approached by two Cervical Check representatives who asked her not to publicly disclose the reviewed smears and assured her she was the only one affected.
At the settlement hearing before Justice Paul Coffey on December 21, Mr Curtis said: ‘Cervical Check visited her in hospital and asked her not to go public. They said she was the only one. Then Vicky Phelan happened.’ Mr Curtis said if there was no Vicky Phelan case, the case of his wife would have broken
‘No referral was made; that’s unbelievable’
‘Michelle still urged her friends to go for smears’
the Cervical Check scandal.
Despite her experience, Mr Curtis said Michelle was a strong believer in the screening service and often urged her friends to go for smears. ‘Even though the service badly let her down, she was a big proponent of screening and she dragged lots of her friends into screening when the importance of it wasn’t as emphasised as it is today.’
Mr Curtis added: ‘Michelle had three wishes; one, that her family be taken care of; two, that this would not happen to any other woman and that three; the screening service itself would not be decimated. So by me going public... by me sharing the story of what happened to Michelle and how it happened, hopefully will help improve women’s health and the attitude of the whole service towards women’s health.’