Narrowing of cervical cancer case against HSE may have implications for other cases

Gabriel and Marcella Mitchell, whose daughter Aoife Mitchell Creaven died in 2015, brought a claim for damages for nervous shock arising out of the alleged misinterpretation of their daughter’s cervical smear sample

(Left to right) Aoife Mitchell Creaven’s parents, Gabriel and Marcella Mitchell, with Padraig Creaven widower of Aoife in 2021. Mr and Ms Mitchell submitted that there are “substantial reasons for believing that the (Ruth) Morrissey judgment was wrong” in finding that the HSE did not owe her husband a duty of care to notify him about the audit results. File picture: Collins Courts

A High Court ruling has significantly narrowed a case seeking damages alleging the HSE breached a duty it owed to the parents of a woman who died of cervical cancer. The decision could have implications for similar type cases.

Gabriel and Marcella Mitchell, whose daughter Aoife Mitchell Creaven from Menlo, Galway, died in 2015 aged 40, brought a claim for damages for nervous shock arising out of the alleged misinterpretation of their daughter’s cervical smear sample.