The HSE and the National Screening Service has apologised for “failings” to a mother of two who has cervical cancer.
Leona Macken, a 38-year old hairdresser who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2023, sued over two cervical smear tests, one in 2016 and one in 2020, claiming they were incorrectly reported as negative.
On Tuesday, an apology was read in court as Ms Macken and her husband Alan, from Artane, Dublin settled a High Court action against the HSE.
Outside court, Ms Macken said it felt great to get an apology from the HSE and National Screening Service but after the case of the late Vicky Phelan, “nobody expected this to happen”.
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“I am fighting this since 2023. I started asking questions and thank God I did. We are told to trust the process. Something is not working in the system. Something needs to be fixed. This was 2020 for me and it is still happening. It is not good enough,” she said.
The letter of apology from the chief executive of the National Screening Service Fiona Murphy stated, on behalf of the service and the HSE, it wished to apologise to Ms Macken, and her family “for the failings that have occurred and led to your diagnosis”.
It added: “I wish to express our deep regret to you and your family and acknowledged the many challenges that you have faced as a result of your diagnosis.”
It concluded: “I appreciate that this has been a very difficult time for you and your family and I hope you find some solace with the resolution and conclusion of this process. I hope that this settlement will give you and your family some level of comfort, peace of mind and security.”
The case was fast tracked through the courts system because of the urgency of Ms Macken’s diagnosis.
Her counsel Jeremy Maher SC, instructed by Cian O’Carroll solicitors, said it was a “truly tragic” case.
Counsel said their case was, because of failings in the CervicalCheck programme, the smears in 2016 and 2020 were incorrectly reported and Ms Macken was not diagnosed with cervical cancer until 2023.
Ms Macken now has a limited life expectancy and “what should have been stopped in its tracks was not”, counsel said.
In the proceedings, it was claimed there was failure to correctly report or diagnose Ms Macken’s smear samples in March 2016 and January 2020 and her cancer was allowed to develop and spread unidentified, unmonitored, and untreated until she was diagnosed in May 2023.
It was claimed the smears in 2016 and 2020 had been incorrectly reported as negative.
It was also alleged there was failure to have effective oversight of the CervicalCheck programme and to have regard to the numbers of women developing cervical cancer despite a history of clear smear tests.
Noting the settlement, Mr Justice Paul Coffey acknowledged a plea from counsel that a lacuna identified by the Supreme Court in another case, that of Limerick woman Ruth Morrissey case, should be addressed. That lacuna related to the damages a husband may claim in such a case.
There was a “clear gap” in the law, Mr Justice Coffey said.
In the Morrissey case, the Supreme Court upheld an appeal by a laboratory against damages awarded to her husband for services which would have been provided to the family by Mrs Morrissey were it not for her shortened life expectancy.
