Editorial: Vicky Phelan - an unintended hero

The sad passing of campaigner Vicky Phelan from terminal cancer had been well foretold, but still came as a jolt and a shock to the nation.

The strength of character of the forty eight year old lady who challenged the system and won, was remarkable, considering all she was going through during her fight for life.

Vicky Phelan died at Milford hospice in County Limerick surrounded by her family – a death that might have been averted had a smear test in 2011 detected abnormalities. It gave a false negative.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and began treatment weeks later. A review by Ireland’s Health Service Executive discovered the mistake from three years earlier but no one told her until 2017. A year later, she discovered the cancer was terminal.

She sued and won a settlement of €2.5m without admission of liability from Clinical Pathology Laboratories, a Texas-based company subcontracted to assess her test. Crucially, she resisted a gagging order and lifted the lid on a wider debacle.

Inaccurate smear test results had been given to at least 208 women later diagnosed with cervical cancer. Most were not told about the revised results. At least 21 have died - how many were preventable, we’ll never know.

An inquiry detailed how the HSE outsourced screening to unapproved laboratories in the UK and US, failed to keep track of them and had an inadequate system for responding to screening errors. The inquiry excoriated “whole-system failure” and “paternalism” in Irish healthcare.

Vicky Phelan has been lauded from on high for her campaigning and her work to expose untruths and cover-up’s. She stepped into the light so that others could see into the dark corners of our health system. The terrible truth is, she should never have had to do this, but she did. Not for herself. But for her children and the children of Ireland to come. A hero no doubt.
She has left a remarkable legacy.