HSE apology for cancer misdiagnosis

A local health campaigner has received a court apology and an undisclosed financial settlement from the Health Service Executive (HSE) following the misdiagnosis of her breast cancer seven years ago.

The apology was read out in the High Court as part of a settlement with Rebecca O’Malley, Ballina, Killaloe after four years of litigation.Her case prompted a wider HIQA investigation of misdiagnosis incidents after it emerged in May 2007.
In the statement, read by Pat Hanratty SC, for the HSE, the agency acknowledged it was at fault for the misdiagnosis of Ms O’Malley’s breast cancer in March 2005 and admitted full liability.
“The HSE, their servants and agents also sincerely apologises to Rebecca O’Malley, her husband Tony and their children for the continuing impact which the misdiagnosis of Mrs O’Malley has had on her and her family,” the statement continued.
Neither side disclosed the amount of the settlement, which was subject to a confidentiality agreement.
Ms Justice Mary Irvine said it was marvellous that the proceedings were settled through mediation, the first time this has happened in a case of this kind.
In a statement, issued to The Clare Champion, Ms O’Malley said the fact that the HSE refused to acknowledge its liability in the 14-month delay in diagnosis drove her to pursue legal action.
Despite the hard-hitting tone and findings of the previous HIQA report and despite accepting that they had misdiagnosed Rebecca, the HSE decided to vigorously contest liability for any damage caused to Rebecca in the personal injury proceedings that eventually followed.
“The fact that the HSE refused to acknowledge that the 14-month delay in diagnosis and the commencement in my treatment had made any difference to me is what drove me to pursue legal action,” stated Rebecca, 46.
“I live each day with the tormenting thought that the delayed diagnosis of my breast cancer has reduced my chances of survival from nearly 80% down to 56% – little more than the flip of a coin. Their negligence has caused my family and myself so much pain and distress and I really needed that to be acknowledged by them.
“I wanted them to fully accept what they have done to me and my family and I wanted them to make some gesture of recompense and provide a meaningful apology. It has taken four years of litigation but today, in open court, the HSE has finally admitted the harmful consequences of their error.”
Rebecca is firmly convinced there must be a more humane and caring way to dispense healing justice to those harmed by medical error. “The present system is uncaring, hugely expensive, stressful and time consuming,” she said.
“Furthermore, it harms the patient at least twice over and I fear that many patients who survive medical errors will not have sufficient strength or stamina to take on the might of a major public body with their seemingly endless resources, ” she said. She previously claimed she was the victim of a perverse game of ‘Russian roulette – HSE- style’ following the publication of a new report into the 14-month delay diagnosing her breast cancer.
The lack of a fully functioning multi-disciplinary meeting at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick contributed to the breast cancer misdiagnosis the mother-of-three, according to the first independent review of treatment administered to a patient.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) concluded that the error in diagnosis of Rebecca O’Malley was the result of a once-off interpretative error by a locum consultant pathologist in Cork University Hospital.
The investigation found that this in itself might not have led to a delay in diagnosis for Ms O’Malley had a fully functioning multi-disciplinary review meeting about her case been held at the MWRH, which did not happen.
The investigation also highlighted serious issues with the manner in which the HSE and its hospitals, MWRH and CUH, responded to Ms O’Malley’s concerns as well as communications issues within and between the two hospitals and the wider HSE.
Ms O’Malley was given the all clear at a breast clinic in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, after her general practitioner found a small lump in her breast. Over a year later, she was referred back to the regional and was told that she had invasive breast cancer and required a mastectomy.
In addition to the mastectomy, she had eight rounds of chemotherapy and an operation to remove all the lymph nodes in her armpit as the cancer had spread out of the breast.
After raising concerns about her 2005 diagnosis, it took five months before she was called back to hospital and given the news that one of those tests had been misdiagnosed and, had it been correct, the treatment she received might not have been as severe.