A mother who the High Court heard is gravely ill with terminal cancer wants an early hearing of her High Court action over the alleged misreporting of her cervical smear test.
The woman's counsel told a High Court judge has opted not to have palliative chemotherapy and "can expect death in a very short period of time". The woman cannot be named by order of the court.
Jeremy Maher SC, instructed by Cian O'Carroll solicitor, told Mr Justice Paul Coffey it was a very sad case where the woman, who now has Stage 4 cancer, “has a very limited life expectancy”.
"She finds herself in a terrible position," counsel said.
She has sued the HSE over a smear test taken under the CervicalCheck national screening programme.

We recently achieved an important settlement before trial of €4.9m for a child who will face life-long challenges due to the negligent failure to diagnose her rare cancer.

​A girl who sued over an alleged delay in diagnosing her rare cancerous condition has settled her High Court action for €4.9 million.
The girl, now aged 12, cannot be indentified by court order. She has a rare condition which, like a cancer, is treated with chemotherapy.
Her father told the court on Friday that every day has been a challenge for his daughter.
Oisín Quinn SC, instructed by solicitor Cian O’Carroll, said the settlement was reached after mediation and, if the case had proceeded to hearing, would have taken six weeks.
The girl was three when the diagnosis of the rare inflammatory cancerous condition was made, he said. Their case was that there was a delay in the diagnosis and the condition should have been identified two years earlier.
Mr Quinn said the girl had presented in 2010 with a rash, which was considered to be eczema, a much more common condition.
In proceedings brought through her father against the HSE, the girl claimed that she developed a progressive rare cancerous condition with a skin rash, failure to thrive and developmental delay in the first three years of her life.

Read Irish Times article

​Interesting piece today on the Tribunal on two important issues - The ongoing failure of Government to honour their promises to the women harmed through the CervicalCheck screening negligence and the failure by them to make the necessary amendments to the Civil Liability Act highlighted by the Supreme Court in the Ruth Morrissey case that can leave the dependants of those who die as a result of medical negligence without provision for future care.

​Listen on RTE News radio.

Cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan has started a new podcast with her solicitor about her legal battle and ongoing treatment.
Ms Phelan said today on Twitter that she was “delighted” to launch her new podcast with solicitor Cian O’Carroll, In conversation with Vicky Phelan.

Mr O’Carroll released a short video synopsis of what the podcast will cover, saying: “Back in 2018, I met Vicky Phelan when she was looking for a solicitor to help her fight her case.

​Read full article on Independent.ie.
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Read article in the Irish Examiner.
The cervical cancer campaigner takes a look at the CervicalCheck scandal in podcast with solicitor Cian O'Carroll in part two of 'In Conversation with Vicky Phelan' 
The second episode of a new podcast series from Cian O’Carroll Solicitors,  In Conversation with Vicky Phelan, sees the campaigner delve into her legal battle following incorrect smear test results. 
Speaking over Zoom with O'Carroll, her legal representative, the pair give an overview of events leading up to the 2018 judgement - and the very real lessons they learned along the way.
They share their accrued knowledge on how to take a court case against institutional issues like the CervicalCheck scandal, and answer the frequently asked questions of the case.
Devastating news
"In January of 2018, I'd just been diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer. Three months previously, I had a sit-down with my gynaecologist, who had wanted to have a chat with me about an audit that had taken place in CervicalCheck," says Phelan. 
"It came out of nowhere, and at a time when I didn't know my cancer was back... I was happy to park it at the time because I was happy to be cancer-free.
"But while I was waiting for a biopsy in a treatment room, bored off my head, I looked through my file and found a report about my file. I knew there was more to this audit than what I was told. I knew there was a chance I could have been misdiagnosed, and I sought legal representation.
"I never thought three years later that it'd set off one of the largest legal scandals in the history of the State."



Screenings 
O'Carroll and Phelan set out an overview of the rollout of the CervicalCheck system in the wake of a backlog of cases in the 2000s. The backlog led to a tender for outsourced lab work, landed by a US firm.
They explain the resultant issues, including slides being further outsourced to secondary labs, before getting into Phelan's case.
"The advantage of being the first case is that the HSE didn't know what was coming," says Phelan. "We got documents that, had they known what was coming, they wouldn't have released. 
"They were confident I'd sign a non-disclosure agreement - they weren't banking on me being as bolshy and as stubborn as I am."
"The day I stood on those court steps, reading that statement, I didn't think I'd be here three years later, still fighting for answers for women, and myself, and to improve outcomes."
Composure
The immediate aftermath of the court case - including the headline-grabbing €2.5m settlement -  is highlighted. 
Phelan speaks about the importance she knew her words carried. Preparation for interviews was all-important, but so too was an even keel, she says. 
"I had to be measured. It was a very difficult balancing act for me, because I could have [gone on the air] and slammed the whole health service, told women not to go get their smears, but I didn't, because I knew women would listen to me, and not get their smears.
"I know how bad this cancer is, and there's no cure for it, so I didn't want more women being diagnosed, I want less, in fact.
"It was all about exposing the harm, and working with them to improve the system."




Elsewhere in the podcast, Phelan and O'Carroll discuss the Scally Report, which found that 90% of the country's cervical tests had been outsourced to labs that hadn't been inspected since 2014.  ​​
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