A victim of a cervical check who was represented by a Cashel-based solicitor has passed away.
Cian O’Carroll represented the 59-year-old woman, who cannot be identified, who passed away at the weekend.
He was one of the lawyers who pleaded with the HSE to have her case over the alleged misreporting of her smear slides settled before her death.
The identity of the woman cannot be revealed due to a Section 27 order made by the court.
Cian told Tipp Today that her late diagnosis came down to negligence.
“Everyone involved in these cases appreciates that screening is not without its limitations, and screening does not find cancers every time they are there. However, when you look back and find that, in fact, the abnormalities that were on her slide were obvious, then an issue of negligence arises, and, in this case, they were found to be obvious and ought to have been identified. And, as a consequence of that failure, she went on to develop invasive cancer, which was quite advanced when diagnosed ultimately, and as a consequence of that, she went on to have a spread of cancer, metastasized, and this week she died.”
Cian says two parties were at fault in the case of his client, and they were the HSE through Cervical Check’s screening and a slide inspected by Eurofin’s Biomnis.
Last week, when it became clear that the health of his client was rapidly declining, those parties were asked to progress to a settlement of the case and to preserve and protect her right to general damages in respect of the pain and suffering caused.
He says asking for acknowledgement of general damages would have benefitted her family.
“Lawyers for both Eurofin’s Biomnis and the HSE were directly asked in court, “Will you confirm that you will acknowledge the general damages that have been caused to this woman? They’re the damages for pain and suffering that traditionally die with you and that cannot be continued on by your family after you die. “Will you acknowledge those damages for this woman and preserve them for her family in the event that she dies?” and they stated to the court, “No, we will not. We refuse that request.”
