Case Study: July 2023
A case brought through Cian O’Carroll Solicitors saw a 37-year-old woman and mother of two young children settle a High Court action against the Health Service Executive (HSE), University Hospital Limerick, and a GP over serious delays in her breast cancer diagnosis. The woman, who carries the BRCA2 gene mutation, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in late 2022, just six days after the birth of her second child.
The legal action revealed that in 2019 and 2020, the GP failed to refer her for genetic testing that ought to have led to earlier detection. In September 2021, after her BRCA status was known, the hospital further delayed performing an MRI scan, a delay which we argued meant her tumour could no longer have been detected at Stage 1 even if imaging had been done correctly.
In court, both the UL Hospitals Group and the GP delivered formal apologies to our client and her family. The hospital group acknowledged a breach of its duty of care, admitting that the delay in diagnosis had profound and devastating consequences. The GP apologised for failing to refer her for genetic testing during the consultations in 2019 and a further opportunity in January 2020.
The woman has used her experience to urge others with a family history of cancer, especially those with BRCA mutations, to insist on annual MRI scans and vigilant screening, pointing out that her incurable cancer not only could have been detected earlier, but should have been prevented if those measures had been followed.