'Failed by the State': Taoiseach apologises to Patricia Carrick

Patricia Carrick: Received an unprecedented State apology. Picture: Ciarán MacChoncarraige

A woman whose cancer was missed by CervicalCheck was “failed” by the State, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil yesterday.

“You have been failed, badly let down," said Mr Martin, addressing Patricia Carrick directly in an unprecedented apology on behalf of the State.

“Your family is going through the very worst of times because of the mistakes of others.”

The terminally ill mother of four had sued after she discovered CervicalCheck misread her smear test in 2016.

However, by the time her cancer was eventually diagnosed in July 2019, it was too late to do anything about it other than try and buy time with her husband Damien and children Ciarán, 23, Ríoghna, 20, Sorcha, 17, and Eoin, 14.

Last month, she won an unprecedented apology and an admission of negligence from the HSE and from the laboratory which missed her cancer.

Mr Martin told the Dáil he spoke to her husband last Friday and that he had been asked to make a public apology.

“I have absolutely no hesitation in doing so," said Mr Martin.

“On behalf of the Government and on behalf of the nation, I offer my genuine and heartfelt apologies to Trish, Damien, Ciarán, Ríoghna, Sorcha, and Eoin.

“Nothing I or anyone else says can change the situation you find yourself in.

“But I hope that a genuine and heartfelt apology I offer today will bring you and your family some small measure of solace.”

Reacting to the apology, Damien said: “We welcome the fact that the Taoiseach has apologised on behalf of the State.

“It is something we have wanted all along.”

Read more: Neil Michael - Taoiseach's genuine apology to dying woman the real drama of Dáil

It is understood a formal letter of apology, on top of an apology read out in court, has already been issued to the family from the HSE.

Mr Martin spoke of how the couple had made a home with their four children that was “filled with music and love”.

He then told how, on July 29, 2019, Patricia was told it was likely she had cancer.

Radiation treatment and chemotherapy followed but, last September, she found out the cancer was terminal.

“It didn't have to be this way," said Mr Martin.

“If there had been an accurate reading [in 2016], Trish’s cancer would have been identified in good time. The appropriate treatment would have been given.

“But there wasn't an accurate reading — the cancer was missed, the cancer spread, and the cancer is now terminal.”

Before last month’s High Court victory, Ms Carrick had been forced to fight for the smallest resource to help her — being placed, at one point, on a two-year waiting list for a specialist shower chair.

This was because she was not entitled to the same care package as the 221+ group of CervicalCheck survivors identified in an audit process that stopped in mid-2018.

Her cancer diagnosis not only happened after this date, but it did not feature in a subsequent review of cases.

Ms Carrick had been too ill to attend last month’s court victory, which saw her awarded €2.75m.

In an in-depth interview with the Irish Examiner afterwards, her husband Damien had said it was both their wish that the State should apologise for what had happened to her.