Dr Gabriel Scally: CervicalCheck controversy 'completely lacked grace or compassion'

The public health doctor who investigated the CervicalCheck controversy said he could not find any "grace or compassion" anywhere.

“It became very apparent to me that what had happened in terms of CervicalCheck and the disclosure completely lacked grace or compassion,” said Dr Gabriel Scally.

“It wasn't to be seen anywhere,” he told a conference in Dublin on open disclosure in medical practice in Ireland organised by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Dr Scally said the legal process in Ireland converted error into injustice and injustice into financial remedy but that did not “do the job”.

And not everyone could seek a financial remedy because some of the women caught up in the controversy were very badly off.

He had been told that solicitors had offered to give potential litigants a letter that they could take to their bank or building society so they could borrow the €5,000 to have their cervical smears read.

“But this is not right. This system is not fit for purpose and is not fit for dealing with these issues,” said Dr Scally, the author of the scoping inquiry into the CervicalCheck screening programme.

He was “very disturbed” by the use of language in the legal system and referred to two prominent “legal voices” who described medical professionals as being “hysterical” during a debate about screening.

He said the definition of hysteria was a dysfunction of the womb and it was recently removed from the international classification of diseases because it was a “deeply gender” term.

How many times have you heard a man being described as hysterical? It doesn't happen.

Dr Scally said women were of course terribly upset about developing cervical cancer but they were more upset and angry about not being told the truth.

While some doctors were “excellent” at disclosing to their patients, others were “absolutely disgraceful.”

His concern, however, was for the women who remained silent. Some had not even told their families.

“They would not come to meetings because they feared they would be recognised.”

Some women who had "normal" smears were not treated as they should when they went to their doctor or colposcopy clinic because they had developed symptoms.

“It was assumed that because they had a negative smear they were not an urgent case and that was not so because the smear was wrong. So there is a real problem with medical professionals as well.”

Dr Scally also talked about protected disclosures made by doctors under the long-awaited Patient Safety Bill.

“There are eight forms to be filled in before a doctor can make that disclosure. I don't know who designed this? How come it takes eight pages before a doctor can sit down and tell the truth to a patient.

“It should be as natural as breathing, to tell the truth.”

At present, open disclosure is voluntary in Ireland but will become mandatory for serious patient safety incidents under the planned legislation.

Patient Advocate, Bernadette O'Reilly, who also spoke at the conference, feared that the regulations to protect doctors from legal liability created “a crossroads of decision making.”

If her doctor had something to tell her she would want him or her to speak with her as a caring professional and not someone who had run off to get a raft of forms.

“Open disclosure which is so important and on the cusp of happening needs a simple backdrop of legislation, not a complex one,” said Ms O'Reilly who is the chairperson of Patients for Safety Ireland.

And, she asked, had anyone really considered the “human burden” of meeting all the regulations.