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The HSE and a testing lab apologized in Superior Court to a terminally ill woman for negligent reading of a smear test.
The apology was read when Patricia Carrick and her husband Damien resolved their lawsuit in Superior Court claiming that Ms. Carrick’s smear test was misdiagnosed or misreported.
The 51-year-old mother of four is in hospital and too ill to attend court and hear her apologies. A letter with an apology will be sent to the family.
Mr. Carrick was in court when Patrick Hanratty SC, for the HSE, read the apology on behalf of the HSE and MedLab Pathology Ltd, which acknowledged that a 2016 sample “was read negligently and in breach of duty.” They apologized for what happened and for the “consequences and anguish.”
The apology was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Carrick and their children, Ciaran, Rioghna, Sorcha and Eoin. Patrick Treacy SC, instructed by attorney Cian O’Carroll, for the family, said the case was resolved after going to mediation.
Relapse
Ms. Carrick was diagnosed with cervical cancer last year and underwent treatment, but suffered a cancer relapse in February and is now terminally ill and receiving palliative care.
An administrator from Oranmore, Co Galway, she and her husband sued the HSE alleging that the failures in care had caused, on the balance of odds, a delay in the diagnosis of her cancer that, according to her, caused a loss of opportunity of cure. Ms. Carrick, whose youngest son is 13, further stated that it has affected her life expectancy and that she has not been able to work since July last year.
He underwent a routine smear test in 2014 and it is claimed that the cytology report issued did not show evidence of neoplasia. Another smear test in 2016 also showed no evidence of neoplasia. In 2018, a new smear test was reported to be unsatisfactory for evaluation and Ms. Carrick was informed that she needed to repeat the cytology test in three months.
In February 2019, he had a smear test that was reported to show no abnormalities. Five months later, he was diagnosed with cervical cancer that had spread to the pelvic lymph nodes. He claimed that he was deprived of the opportunity for timely and effective investigation and treatment of his condition and of the opportunity to receive treatment when his illness was supposedly capable of curative treatment.
The claims were denied, but on Tuesday, HSE and MedLab Pathology acknowledged that the 2016 sample was read in a negligent manner.
Diligent
Outside of court, Carrick said his wife received a phone call on July 29 last year to tell her she had cancer.
“Since then, our private and happy life in Galway has been marred by the dire situation we find ourselves in.” She said she is a great mother, a very good friend and “the glue that keeps the Carrick house in order.”
He said that she was diligent about her health and attended her smear tests regularly. “If she were here today, she would be encouraging all women to get their smears regularly and listen to their bodies,” she said. It would also ask the Government to implement the Scally report “to ensure that the women of today live to be the mothers of tomorrow.”
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