By Juno McEnroe and Ann O’Loughlin
Cervical cancer sufferer Emma Mhic Mhathúna believes Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been ‘checkmated’ by US cancer-testing labs as a result of his statement in May that “the State will settle and pursue the lab later”.
Mr Varadkar says a redress scheme and a public inquiry are being considered for the women caught up in the cervical cancer controversy. He is meeting with campaigner Vicky Phelan today to discuss how an inquiry would work.
While Ms Mhic Mhathúna acknowledged Mr Varadkar meant well when he said no woman affected by the scandal would have to go to court, she believes the labs are using the system and this statement against him.
[quote]I sympathise with the position that he’s in... he’s in a checkmate,” she said. “The labs know they have him. It’s the labs who are abusing the statement... they couldn’t care less about Ruth [Morrissey] or me or our children or our families. They only care about saving money.[/quote]
Mr Varadkar said it “hadn’t come to the point” yet where labs were refusing to take part in mediation or compensation talks and that he would have to wait until the Scally inquiry is complete, so it can be established which cases involved negligence.
“For the State to step in, we would definitely need to have the expert reports,” said Mr Varadkar. “By stepping in, we are exposing the taxpayer to the full cost. So we would need to know that we had sufficient grounds to pursue the labs thereafter. We need to examine how best we can settle cases without people having to take the stand or go to court while recognising that people have a right to do that, we don’t want anyone to feel that they have to do that.
“Crucial to that is finding mediation that can work but also having the reports which are very important too because we can’t confirm there is negligence until we have those reports.”
Mr Varadkar said each of the 221 women caught up in the scandal deserves “some form of compensation” and he remains open to the idea of a public inquiry.
On his meeting with Ms Phelan, whose case brought the scandal to light, he said
[quote]Mainly I want to hear her advice and thoughts about what we can best achieve, what we all want to achieve, which is trying to have a system of redress and compensation that avoids women having to take the stand in court, restoring confidence in the cervical cancer screening programme, and making sure we get to the truth and facts.[/quote]
While he is open to the idea of the inquiry being held in public, Mr Varadkar feels that some people would prefer to give their evidence in private.
“I don’t want to get into a situation where we are promising a quick, open public inquiry where the questions are all answered but that doesn’t happen,” said Mr Varadkar. “It will inevitably take time and involve costs.”
The comments came as Ms Morrissey’s case over the alleged misreading of her cervical smears adjourns until September to see how she responds to radical radiotherapy.
The laboratories she is suing wanted the case put back until November, when it will be known if the radical treatment of the mother of a seven-year-old girl has been successful.
Counsel for Medlab told the High Court that her case was expedited because of the risk of her demise. Given her positive response to chemotherapy treatment, counsel said the risk of demise has now diminished in Ms Morrissey’s case and so too should the sense of urgency about hearing it.
The court was told there has been a good response to chemotherapy and the cancerous tumour in Ms Morrissey’s pelvis had shrunk in size but remains inoperable.
If the radiotherapy treatment is successful, it could prolong her life — but there will be no indications of the success of it until three months’ time.
