Judgement in woman's action against HSE and US labs over alleged smear misreading expected tomorrow

A High Court judge will tomorrow morning hand down judgement in the case of terminally ill Ruth Morrissey who has sued the HSE and two US laboratories over the alleged misreading of her CervicalCheck smear slides.

The action which ran for 37 days before Mr Justice Kevin Cross is regarded as a test case relating to the CervicalCheck controversy.

Mother of one Ms Morrissey and her husband Paul are expected to be in court for the judgement by Mr Justice Kevin Cross.

Legal teams representing other women who are taking similar type actions relating to smear tests taken under the CervicalCheck screening programme have been monitoring the case which started in July last year with three days at hearing and resumed in January for a further 34 days of evidence.

In her proceedings, Ms Morrissey and her husband Paul Morrissey, of Monaleen, Co Limerick have sued the HSE and two US laboratories, Quest Diagnostics Ireland Ltd with offices at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin along with Medlab Pathology Ltd with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin 18.

It is claimed there was an alleged failure to correctly report and diagnose and there was an alleged misinterpretation of her smear samples taken in 2009 and 2012 and her cancer spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014.

It is further claimed a review of the 2009 and 2012 smears took place in 2014 and 2015 with the results sent to Ms Morrissey’s treating gynaecologist in 2016, but she was not told until May 2018 of those results which showed her smears were reported incorrectly. The HSE admitted it owed a duty of care to Ms Morrissey. The laboratories deny all claims.

The Morrissey side further contended when the case resumed in January this year if Ms Morrissey had been told the results of the smear test audits in late 2014 or early 2015, she would have insisted on an MRI and other scans.

Ms Morrissey was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014 and suffered a recurrence last year. The court has previously heard the recurrence in her pelvic wall has spread to her bone and she has at maximum two years to live.

The case ran for 37 days in the High Court and started in July 2018. Ms Morrissey took the stand in July last year and also recently when she had to return to the witness stand to be cross examined by counsel for the HSE.

The case involved seven senior counsel, five junior counsel and three instructing solicitor firms as well as the Morrissey solicitor, Cian O’Carroll and his team.