Mother of three gravely ill with ovarian cancer loses High Court case

A 37-year old mother of three who is gravely ill with ovarian cancer has lost her High court action over an alleged delay in diagnosis.

The woman, who cannot be named, will be spared having to pay the huge legal costs bill of the 11-day action providing she does not lodge an appeal of the High Court decision.

Mr Justice David Keane who dismissed the woman's case was told by the parties that after negotiation it had been decided in relation to costs that the defendants should get the costs of the action, but the costs order will not be executed in the event of no appeal.

Mr Justice David Keane who was told the woman's condition is "critically grave" expressed his sympathy to the woman's husband who was in court and her family and said it is a "very sad, sad situation."

None of the parties including the defendants, a consultant radiologist and companies providing MRI services can be named by order of the court.

At issue in the case was an MRI scan the woman had in June 2016 which was reported as normal. The woman claimed the MRI scan showed features of a particular form of ovarian cancer which were not shown or reported upon due to alleged negligence and that she allegedly received a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis and as a result her disease was less susceptible to treatment when she was later diagnosed.

The judge said the case in substance was pursued solely against the radioologist as the woman's legal team did not proceed with a claim against the imaging companies of allegedly failing to produce a suitably sufficient image.

In his judgement Mr Justice Keane found there was no failure of care on the part of the radiologist and he did not deviate from any general or approved practice or follow any general or approved practice that was subject to an obvious inherent defect.

"He acted with the ordinary care which a medical practitioner of equal status and skill should have shown," the judge stated.

The woman who wasn't feeling well had an MRI scan of her pelvis area on June 29, 2016 which came back as normal and reported that there was no identifiable cause for patient's symptoms.

The woman's symptoms persisted - particularly stomach bloating - and in November 2017 she had a CT scan which showed up a suspicious ovarian mass. She was later diagnosed with a likely ovarian carninoma and in December 2017 it was confirmed the woman had Stage 4 ovarian cancer.