Cork woman who endured chemotherapy after alleged cancer misdiagnosis settles for €1.9m

It was claimed the patient, then 17,  was subjected to severe, multiple and unnecessary tests, scans, X-rays, biopsies and treatment including chemotherapy

Woman was only 17 years of age when she received the lymphoma cancer diagnosis after she was admitted to the Bon Secours Hospital, Cork, with abdominal pain, court heard. Picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

A woman who as a teenager claims she was misdiagnosed with cancer and endured highly toxic chemotherapy treatment has settled a High Court action for €1.9m.

Aoife O’Donovan was only 17 years of age when she received the lymphoma cancer diagnosis after she was admitted to the Bon Secours Hospital, Cork, with abdominal pain.

Her counsel, Dr John O’Mahony SC with Cian O’Mahony BL, told the High Court the girl’s condition was investigated and it was their case she was unfortunately in October 2005 misdiagnosed with the T-cell lymphoma cancer when in fact she had a benign self-limiting condition called Kikuchis disease.

Dr O’Mahony said the two diagnoses were at ”opposite ends of the spectrum” and this was a very sad and upsetting case.

It is claimed Ms O’Donovan was subjected to severe, multiple and unnecessary tests, scans, X-rays, biopsies and treatment including chemotherapy and was subjected to considerable anxiety, upset, distress, and inconvenience.

She was advised in December 2006 that she in fact never had the cancer, but instead, she had an unrelated virus.

She had six courses of chemotherapy treatment between November 2005 and April 2006. In all, she spent seven months in hospital, and at one stage of treatment had to take 32 tablets a day. 

Counsel said Ms O’Donovan could not sit her Leaving Cert and her career prospects were compromised.

Aoife O’Donovan, from Airport Road, Cork City, counsel said, was given a very toxic type of chemotherapy to treat the lymphoma cancer, and vast consequences flowed from it for her, including developing and requiring radiotherapy treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Ms O’Donovan, who is now aged 35, on Wednesday settled a High Court action against consultant histopathologist Eoin Ó Murchú, who practises at the Bon Secours Hospital, Cork City. The settlement is without an admission of liability but an apology from Mr Ó Murchú was read to the court.

Apology

In the apology, Mr Ó Murchú conveyed his “sincere and heartfelt apologies” over Ms O’Donovan’s pathology diagnosis on October 28, 2005.

It added “I regret the significant injuries that you have suffered and the distress caused over many years. I offer my deepest sympathy to you.” 

In the proceedings, it was claimed Mr Ó Murchú failed to have any regard to the fact the histological features are typical of Kikuchis disease, which it was claimed ought to have been made by Mr Ó Murchú himself, or by referral to an appropriate expert pathologist.

As a result of the alleged error in diagnosis, Ms O’Donovan, it was claimed, while in the Bon Secours Hospital was subjected to a multitude of tests, scans, X-rays, and biopsies and had a portacath fitted to her chest for chemotherapy.

The claims were denied.

Ms O’Donovan was discharged from the hospital after a few weeks but returned on a twice-monthly basis for further chemotherapy. She also endured bone marrow biopsies and other tests until December 19, 2006, when she was told she never in fact had T-cell lymphoma but had an unrelated virus which did not require the treatment to which she had been subjected.

Noting the settlement, Mr Justice Paul Coffey said it was a very sad case and he told Ms O’Donovan, who was in court with her family, that he was delighted that the matter had been resolved.