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A WOMAN WHO had a delayed cervical cancer diagnosis uncovered in a recent review by the HSE has spoken out about the experience.
Emma Mhic Mhathúna, a mother of five children, said she underwent smear tests every three years since the birth of her 15-year-old daughter Natasha, and that all the results had come back as normal until 2016.
Speaking to RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Emma said: “The nurse called me and said that something was showing up in the smear, and that I needed to go to the hospital.”
On 20 September 2016, Emma had a biopsy. She recalled: “The doctor said to me straight out there and then that he didn’t need to wait to get the test results back. ‘You have cancer and we have to act quickly, I’m ordering an MRI for you.’
“That was Wednesday and on Monday I got the MRI and the doctor told me I had stage 2B cervical cancer.
“I was saying to myself, ‘How did things get so bad?’… I had the letter from (the smear in) 2013 to say everything was fine.”
The CervicalCheck controversy was brought into the public eye following a court case by Vicky Phelan, who is terminally ill and was last week awarded €2.5 million over incorrect smear test results from 2011.
Yesterday, Health Minister Simon Harris announced the launch of a Health Information and Quality Authority statutory investigation into the CervicalCheck screening programme. The HSE has confirmed that 17 women whose cases were reviewed as part of an audit have died.
As of last night, only 113 of the 162 women not informed of audits into their smears have been notified, RTÉ News reports.
‘The children are worried’
Emma, 37, was treated at St Luke’s Hospital in Dublin, and she moved to Kerry six months ago. She is now under the care of Cork University Hospital.
Emma said she has an appointment at the hospital every four months “to check that everything is okay”.
On 4 April, Emma’s children were with her when she got the all-clear. “When there’s cancer in the house, the children are always worrying if everything is okay,” she noted.
Despite getting the all-clear, Emma has been feeling ill and is worried something is wrong.
“On 15 April, that’s a fortnight ago, I knew there was something wrong with my body again. I went to the doctor and he found something that was more than 1cm there … I was at the hospital last week and had to get a biopsy done yesterday (Monday). Everything is up in the air now.”
Phone call last weekend
Last Sunday, Emma’s doctor in Dublin called her to tell her she was one of the women affected by the CervicalCheck controversy.
The doctor told me that the smear results I got in 2013 were wrong … the first indications of cancer, the cells changing in the body, were there.
“If I had got the right results at that time, I wouldn’t be where I am now … I had a kidney infection in January, I have a lung infection now. My life … well, I’m not too worried about my life, but the kids are very, very young.”
Emma said she is worried about the future and has arranged for her son Mario, who is in fourth class, to make his confirmation with his older brother Séamus next week.
“It’s good for me that they can both do it together. I had new clothes bought for them anyway.”
Emma and her daughter Natasha feature in a video produced by the HSE last year in a bid to increase the uptake of the HPV vaccine.
“There wasn’t enough uptake on the HPV vaccine. After what I’d gone through … I said I’d have to take a stand and help people,” Emma said of the video.
She said she’s still in shock after finding out what happened.
“My head is spinning … is it true? In 2004, I got a knock on my door to tell me my mother was dead.
“It was unbelievable, she was 44. I was 23 at that time, and on my own. It’s like that again. I’m waiting to open my eyes and to be back in my bed and that this is not true,” she stated.
If you’re concerned about the results of your smear test, you can contact the HSE’s CervicalCheck freephone helpline:
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These women have so badly been let down and are paying with their lives. It’s a disgrace and shameful and no one will be properly prosecuted which makes even worse
@Caroline Reid: there probably won’t even be a sacking, at most the incompetents responsible might be transferred to another roll (to mess up) with all their benefits and abosolutely no accountability or sanctions against them
There will be many women coming forward once the magnitude of this error is uncovered. Yet again, Ireland has failed it’s women.
@Rachel Durack Murray: “error” – more like the usual civil service negligence
What is worrying is why labs used were used when partys like sinn fein objected to them being used because of their past failures to provide compent results
In 2008 Ireland had no capacity to carry out cervical tests. The tests carried out in the US were not perfect and nor were they claimed to be and that was the same for every country in the world. The problem lies in the failure of the HSE to notify women about the success rate of detecting cancer and later on to notify them about actual results. It was the HSE that let women down (not for the first time) and with devastating results in some of the cases.
@Johnny Bellew: Not true.
“Our cytology system in the Rotunda Hospital, which was well developed, fully accredited and world class, with very good quality assurance systems in place and numerous people analysing smears – two looks rather than one – the quality assurance was at a much higher level than the US,” said Dr Coulter-Smith, a former master of the Rotunda.
Dr. David Gibbons, who worked in QA for the NCSP, also says that he raised concerns in 2008 about the low number of high-grade dysplasias being detected by the US labs in comparison to the Irish results.
http://www.broadsheet.ie/2018/04/30/hse-boss-dismissed-my-concerns-about-cervical-screening-results/
@Johnny Bellew: By 2008 I had worked in pathology in the Coombe and Holles st. We had the expertise and the capacity. We just needed more investment in training and space.
@Johnny Bellew: the HSE and the Gov were repeatedly told before the service was used that the detection rates were 33% lower than what they should be getting based on their own testing. It was ignored, people resigned when they werent listened too because of it and nothing was done about it. Then when the inevitable happened, there was a cover up. This is not acceptable.
@ihcalaM: Fair enough.
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Fair enough.
@Carina Clarke: Fair enough.
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: I had test done 6 weeks after my baby in 1981 in Holles Street & I was notified that week. I was taken into Holles St & treated. I went on to have another baby then had hysterectomy. The procedures in place then seemed to work properly. I am one of the lucky women that was caught in time & that was back in the 80′s, I thought systems were to improve with time????
Womens’ health priority.
@Michael Lang:
It’s not improbable that there have been similar malfunctions in the health service on men’s health which have gone unnoticed given the stoical attitude adopted by men towards their own health.
@Gene Dexter: although the topic is the scandal of a Women’s health issue, affecting women and unique to women, please forgive my oversight of the needy men who are so brave and stoical and enduring and special and all. Chuckling. I really need to develop my male victimhood outlook.
What a brave and courageous whistleblower Ms. Phelan is. Whistleblowing is never popular but if it is the correct road to take, then it should be taken. Hopefully her actions will save many lives in the future.
Once again the government and its mudguard the HSE have shown they don’t give a flying one about the women of the country, or people in general. To busy looking after themselves, banks, vultures, corporations and the likes of Denis the menance. Since 2011 they have lied while lurching from one scandal to another.
They were punished in GE 2016 with a huge loss of seats, yet managed to concoct a minority government with the help of FF and so called Independents.
It’s high time this corrupt cartel of FFG were given the push and others given the chance to show what they can do. They can’t do any worse for the people of Ireland.
10 years ago James O’Reilly was among those saying the screening shouldn’t be outsourced to the USA, where smears are done annually and labs employ tests not comprehensive enough to pick up slower-growing problems, precisely the sort that have ruined or ended our women’s lives. O’Reilly and the rest apparently felt that massive savings in the health budget were being prioritised over patient safety by Mary Harney (no surprise there) and Sean O’Rourke pointed out on the radio today that she dismissed those concerns, with a degree of contempt for O’Reilly himself. Yet he then went on to take Harney’s job, and did precisely nothing, and had no answer when Sean challenged him on that- when they get the feet under the cabinet table and the arse on the seat of a ministerial car all thoughts of the little people are erased; why are we putting up with this? Heads have to roll, not just Tony O’Brien at the HSE (sack him before he ‘retires’ with the big bucks) but Simon Harris too, and negligence charges should be brought against James O’Reilly, Mary Harney, Leo Varadkar and every other chancer who has sauntered through the health dept. leaving it with an ever-sicker culture and more innocent victims.
@Michael Bride: Have to agree with you here. American test was for repeated tests every year!! Ireland were only testing every 3 years which was below standard!!
‘How did things get so bad?’ because we allowed it simple. We are now just ‘customers’ to a bloated public service. We need to cull at least 15,000 employee from our health system. Merge HSE and dept of health and reduce the number of quangos by half.
Health Information and Quality Quango do not have powers to investigate or hold public servants to account. They can’t even compelled people to attend any inquiry and even if people turn up, no one has to answer any questions. As we see in other inquiry’s proceeding can be halted for months by people pretending to be in ill heath themselves.
This circus gives an impression that accountability means something. when all everyone have to do is just say ‘sorry’. That will let them off without taking any responsibly. It was even Leo that brought in legislation with FF abstaining that allows this to happen over and over again.
Somebody along the line seriously f.ked up in this highly responsible job and need to be prosecuted, either here or the U.S. The political opposition need pile the pressure on big time.
I think this now needs to go to a judicial inquiry not a tribunal.
I would even say there needs to be independent scrutiny from competent experts from outside the state to ensure unbiased inquiry.
Political pressure from inside the state will only cover up what is a huge scandal
This is simply a case of the system failing the citizens of ireland ,as we have seen in recent years ,no one will be held to account ,the system closes in and protects its own .the fear of long drawn out litigation prevents ordinary people from challenging the state .we need our politicians to come clean and acknowledge they are part of the problem .kicking the can down the road has become the culture of politics in this country .what we need now is real reform not another smoke screen .
@Anthony Gallagher: I agree Hse have a record of non diclosure my daughter had MRSA E COLI AND SEPTICAEMIA SEVERE SEPSIS waited 4 hrs for medical attention by Dr .Feedback is damage limitation non disclosure of medical tests results crazy no one responsible accountable or transparency
The system is set up so the organization And not management is deemed responsible.So this is why there will be no prosecution’s.And we the tax payers will have to foot the bill for managerial mistakes,which are often driven by apathy.BECAUSE they know there’s little consequence.
The reason these people have being let down is because those who are given the responsibility have no fear, no accountability its the culture within the system we have in this country and no current government parties will change that , telling lies and cover ups is the norm, not just in the health service. Government Ministers blaming Public Servants and vise versa. Meanwhile people suffer.
Terrible way for familys to be treated,criminal investigation must be called for.
There is no way that our Politicians can go through with this increasing our population by 1 million people .
They are unable to look after the number of people they have now .
Time this was contracted out to a country with the capacity to perform these tests, namely Sweden, Netherlands, France, Germany, etc. USA was always going to be a race to the bottom.
The big question now is, how many cases, if any have signed the confidentiality clause? To my mind this whole episode should classified as murder. Was only made public when a big enough diversion was created ie referendum. Disgust is too mild a word for the attitude of some Public Service officials.
WHY are lab samples being shipped all the way over to the USA? why is this vital form of scientific analysis being outsourced?? it would be so easy for lab technitions to get it wrong if they are dealing with thousands of samples from a foreign country. This country should have the proper facilities HERE.
@Pauline Gallagher: it was three times cheaper to send them to the USA .Like everything else in this world it all came down to money
Women were working in key positions in all companies & organisations involved in the Cervical Smear issue … could some of these women not have raised the issue … there is never a wrong time to do the right thing
@Brendan Flanagan: did you actually just blame women for this? Wtf!
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