CervicalCheck: Woman sues over incorrectly reported smear test

A woman whose cervical smear test was incorrectly reported as negative, and who was later diagnosed with cancer and had to have a hysterectomy, has sued for damages in the High Court.

The 39-year-old woman is currently cancer free, the court was told.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross was told by the woman’s counsel, Dr John O’Mahony SC, that when she had a cervical smear test in 2013, there should have been “flashing red lights” but the result came back negative.

Three years later, she was diagnosed with cancer and had to have a hysterectomy, he said. Had it not been for the misreporting of the April 2013 smear, she would not have had a hysterectomy and would have conserved her fertility, he said. “Her intention was to have a family, she is family focussed. It was her desire to have children. She looked forward to being a mother, she is saddened by this.”

He told Mr Justice Kevin Cross that liability had been conceded in the case and it was before the court for assessment of damages only. The woman, who cannot be identified, has sued the HSE and Medlab Pathology Ltd, which examined her smear slide taken on April 22nd 2013 under the CervicalCheck screening programme.

‘Falsely reported’

She claimed the smear test was falsely reported as negative and it was recommended that she was discharged and recalled for a further routine smear test in three to five years. She says she had to have more radical surgery and treatment and her health has been seriously adversely affected. If her 2013 test had been reported correctly, she would have been referred for a colposcopic assessment. That is what happened three years later when she had a smear test, she says, and a high grade squamous lesion was then found.

In evidence, the woman said the things she had enjoyed the most have been taken from her. “When I found out I had cancer it was very difficult. I rang CervicalCheck. I did not understand how it happened to me.”

Dr O’Mahony said that had there been an appropriate reading of the 2013 test the woman would have avoided “all of the nightmare” and retained her fertility. “She would not have lost out as badly as she did.”

He said the cancer has not returned and the woman is currently clear but she is “not out of the woods” and has reviews every three months. She has also been left with a chronic condition which causes swelling in her body, he said.