Alison O’Connor: Life-saving health screening for women comes with imperfections

We are in a place where screening for women has a dangerously bad reputation in Ireland, writes Alison O'Connor

Obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr Nóirín Russell is clinical director of CervicalCheck, made some ill-advised remarks during a video call in late 2020 with Meath TD Peadar Tóibín.

There are few events that could focus the mind more sharply on the benefits of health screening than the death of your mother at age 44, when you were just 11 years old.

I was only a teenager when I first became aware that having a primary relative with breast cancer could increase my own risk of the disease. Screening should be considered at a far earlier stage than normal. Quite the double blow — loss of a mother, plus the realisation of a higher risk of being diagnosed with the same horrible disease yourself.