HSE and laboratory apologise to woman whose smear tests were misreported

The Health Service Executive (HSE) and a medical laboratory have apologised to a woman whose smear tests were misreported before her cervical cancer diagnosis.

Marie O’Toole, of Portumna, Co Galway, required a hysterectomy after being diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer in 2017, the High Court heard as she settled her action on Wednesday.

Before her diagnosis, she had smear tests in 2008 and in 2013, which were incorrectly reported, the court was told.

Senior counsel Jeremy Maher, instructed by Alaina Hogan of Cian O’Carroll Solicitors, said “two missed opportunities have had devastating consequences” for his clients.

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He said her personal injuries case against the HSE, and her husband’s connected case, had both settled.

Her first screening was carried out and checked by Galway University Hospital, while the second was analysed and reported by Medlab, as part of the national CervicalCheck programme.

In a letter read to the court, the HSE offered a “sincere and unreserved apology” to Ms O’Toole.

It accepted it failed to disclose to her in a timely manner the results of a review of her 2013 smear sample, and another from 2010, as part of a retrospective audit of samples of woman who were screened under CervicalCheck and subsequently were diagnosed with cancer.

Ms O’Toole claimed the November 2017 review of her 2013 slide revealed the presence of abnormal precancerous cells.

The Galway hospital’s general manager apologised for having “breached its duty of care in failing to correctly report” on her 2008 cytology sample, which resulted in avoidable delay in diagnosis of her cancer.

“We are very sorry that this failure occurred,” he said, adding apologies for the “devastating impact” the diagnosis has had on Ms O’Toole’s life.

Medlab, a third party in the actions, also “sincerely” apologised in court for its “admitted breach of duty” in reading and reporting her 2013 smear slide.

Ms O’Toole claimed she would have been referred for colposcopy if her 2008 smear had been correctly reported. Her case alleged she would have then been diagnosed as having precancerous cell growth.

Had her 2013 slide been correctly reported she would have then been referred for urgent colposcopy, she claimed.

Instead, she said she required a radical hysterectomy and other invasive procedures.

She claimed her quality of life has been “severely adversely affected” and she is at risk of further medical complications in the future.

The apologies were read before Mr Justice Paul Coffey as part of the settlement of cases against the HSE brought by Ms O’Toole and her husband, Kevin Gorman. No further details of the settlement were given to the court.