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A husband whose wife died of cervical cancer has said he plans to use the money from a Superior Court settlement to fulfill his wish for a child by using surrogacy.
Padraic Creaven had included the costs of surrogacy in his High Court lawsuit against the HSE and three labs.
The case was resolved this afternoon and the HSE apologized to Creaven for failing to communicate the results of an audit, which revealed a change in interpretation of Aoife Mitchell Creaven’s 2011 smear test.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed in court.
A statement of regret was also read on behalf of the US HSE and CPL Laboratory for the “incalculable pain, suffering and loss” experienced by Ms. Mitchell Creaven, her husband and family.
Mitchell Creaven was 20 weeks pregnant in 2014 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 end-stage cervical cancer and her life expectancy was limited.
She had conceived through IVF, but had to terminate her pregnancy to receive chemotherapy. He was 40 years old when he died in April 2015.
Mr. Creaven had sued the HSE, three laboratories and a hospital for the interpretation of his wife’s cervical smear sample in 2011, taken under the national CervicalCheck screening program.
After today’s agreement, Creaven said: “I hope that in the future there will not be more women who lose their lives before the system changes.
“I’m happy to finally get an acknowledgment of responsibility for Aoife’s death. I feel like I have a bit of justice for Aoife.”
He also thanked his attorney Cian O’Carroll and his legal team for their “effort, dedication and tireless work over the past two and a half years.”
Mr. Creaven thanked Aoife’s family for their help and support for him and his wife in what he described as “an unimaginably difficult time.”
Ms. Mitchell Creaven underwent a cervical smear test under the national CervicalCheck screening program on August 8, 2011. On August 31, 2011, she was informed that no abnormalities were detected.
On February 26, 2014, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer. At the time, she was around 20 weeks pregnant after her fifth cycle of IVF fertility treatment.
When the case began yesterday, Mr. Creaven’s attorney, Jeremy Maher SC, told the court that the couple had “the most extraordinary and difficult dilemma” in 2014 and that “the necessary course of action was to terminate the pregnancy” because their only treatment option was chemotherapy.
Maher said Creaven was left alone without a son. A widower at 44, the death of his wife had a devastating impact on him.
He said that the cost of surrogacy was part of Mr. Creaven’s claim and that his client was now determined to fulfill his wife’s wish and proceed to have a child through surrogacy.
The couple’s frozen embryos are at a fertility clinic in the Czech Republic and Mr. Creaven wants to go to the United States for surrogacy.
Today, the case was settled and an apology was read in HSE court.
The statement also read: “The HSE and CPL (Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Austin, Texas) wish to acknowledge that this is a uniquely tragic case that has had the most devastating consequences for Aoife, her husband Padraic Creaven, the plaintiff in these proceedings, and for your family.
“We deeply regret the pain, suffering and untold loss experienced by Aoife, Padraic and their family.
“The HSE reiterates its sincere and unreserved apology to Mr. Creaven for the failure of the CervicalCheck program to promptly and adequately communicate to him the results of an audit that indicated a change in the interpretation of the defamation of Aoife taken on 8 August 2011. “
In their case against HSE and Labs, it was stated that a review of the 2011 cervical smear was conducted in 2014, but a hospital consultant did not tell the Creaven and Mitchell families until 2018 that the smear smear was reported. incorrectly.
After the termination in March 2014, they tried to find something to prolong Aoife’s life, but she died in 2015, the court was told.
The case also included a claim for aggravated or punitive damages in connection with an alleged consultant comment to a family member of the deceased during a disclosure meeting in 2018, regarding the outcome of a CervicalCheck audit of the 2011 slide. .
The consultant’s alleged comment “well, nuns don’t get cervical cancer,” the lawyer said, was wildly insensitive.
Mr. Creaven, on his behalf and on behalf of his late wife’s family, sued the HSE and three laboratories.
These are Sonic Healthcare (Ireland) Ltd with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin; MedLab Pathology Ltd also of Sandyford Business Park and the American laboratory Clinical Pathology Laboratories Incorporated (CPL) of Austin, Texas.
The case was also against Coombe University Hospital for Women and Children, Dublin.
It was alleged against the HSE and the three laboratories that the 2011 smear was not reported to be abnormal and that Ms Mitchell Creaven was allegedly deprived of the opportunity to investigate and treat her condition in a timely and effective manner.
The hospital is alleged to have concealed or failed to inform Ms Mitchell Creaven in a timely manner the result of a review of her 2011 smear. All claims were denied.
The case began yesterday in the Superior Court before starting the settlement talks that concluded today. The agreement was made without admission of responsibility.
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