Olive Fahey suffered multiple misdiagnoses of breast cancer with 4 seperate errors being made in her case over a 19 month period leading to a delay in her diagnosis and treatment that ultimately resulted in otherwise unnecessary mastectomy, chemotherapy, decreased survival prognosis and other serious harm. Despite inquiries by State agencies into this seminal case of misdiagnosis, the defendants did not admit liability until the eve of trial. The case is singularly important for the contribution that Mrs Fahey made to the development of much safer and more effective breast cancer services at a limited number of expert "centres of excellence" across the country where women are more likely to achieve a better outcome to their cancer.