Woman who got damages over smear test dies

The death has occurred of a woman who received €500,000 in damages last month in settlement of her claim that doctors incorrectly interpreted her cervical smear test.

Janet Donnelly (38), the mother of an eight-year-old girl, died at her home in Cabra, Dublin, on Friday. She had contracted cervical cancer and lymph-node cancer.

Several years earlier, the Well Woman Centre advised Ms Donnelly to have annual smear tests as she was at greater risk of developing the cancer than the average woman.

She had a smear test in June 1999, which was reported as negative in an analysis by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

Ms Donnelly said she was reassured by the results and had attributed symptoms she had been experiencing to an adverse reaction to the contraceptive pill.

Eight months later, a second smear test detected abnormal cells which prompted further investigation.

Tests found that Ms Donnelly had an invasive type of carcinoma of the cervix.

She had her womb removed and underwent chemotherapy but remained seriously ill. Ms Donnelly sued the RCSI and the Well Woman Centre, claiming that her cancer could have been eradicated if the results of the first test had been correctly interpreted.

At one point, she gave evidence for the case from her sick bed while on a morphine drip. The RCSI admitted liability just before the case was due to open in December but no liability attached to the Dublin Well Woman Centre.