Galway Bay fm newsroom - A woman from Galway who is terminally ill with cancer has launched a High Court action claiming smear tests taken under the national screening programme were allegedly misdiagnosed or misreported.
According to the Irish Examiner, Patricia Carrick, a 51-year-old mother of four, was diagnosed with cervical cancer last year.
She underwent treatment but suffered a relapse in February and is now terminally ill.
Ms. Carrick from Oranmore, along with her husband Damien, has sued the HSE claiming the alleged failures in care, on the balance of probability, delayed a cancer diagnosis - which she says caused a loss of opportunity of cure.
The Irish Examiner reports Ms Carrick had a routine smear test in 2014 and it's claimed the cytology report issued showed no evidence of neoplasia. Another smear test in 2016 also showed no evidence of neoplasia.
In 2018, Ms Carrick had a further cervical smear test under the national screening programme - which was reported as unsatisfactory for assessment.
In February 2019, Ms. Carrick had another smear test after being advised to do so - this was reported as showing no abnormalities.
Five months later, Ms Carrick was diagnosed with cervical cancer which had spread to her pelvic lymph nodes.
Patricia Carrick, whose youngest child is 13 years old, has claimed she was allegedly deprived of the opportunity of timely and effective investigation, and management of her condition, and of the opportunity of treatment at a time where her disease was allegedly amenable to curative treatment.
The claims are denied.
The HSE has applied to have the MedLab laboratory joined as a co-defendant in the proceedings.
Mr Justice Kevin Cross turned down the application but said it could be allowed into the proceedings as a third party.
