The Supreme Court will rule this morning on an appeal in the case of Limerick woman Ruth Morrissey who is terminally ill with cervical cancer.A key issue in the Supreme Court case was the High Court's finding, that screeners should have "absolute confidence" that a smear test has no abnormalities before passing it as negative.
The five judges' decision will deal with the legal standard of care for cervical screening. It is seen as a test case that could affect others. At the end of the appeal hearing in November, Chief Justice Frank Clarke said it was a "very difficult" case because of its underlying and tragic conditions and because of the legal issues with very wide implications.
He said the court would try to give its judgment in a way that would bring clarity to this area as quickly as possible. The Health Service Executive and two laboratories, Quest Diagnostics and Medlab Pathology, appealed the High Court decision to award just over €2m to Ruth Morrissey and her husband Paul over the misreading of cervical smear slides.The judgment will be delivered by a single judge because of the Covid-19 situation.
The private testing companies have the gall to appeal the decision that makes them legally accountable for giving women correct smear test results. This is what happens when you starve public health services to create opportunities for private profiteers: HPV HPVvaccine