File photo. Image: Mammogram/Shutterstock File photo. Image: Mammogram/Shutterstock A WOMAN WHO claimed that a cancer screening at a Breastcheck mobile unit was carried out negligently has lost her case at the High Court.
Siobhan Freeney was subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2015 after she identified symptoms and was referred by her GP for a hospital assessment.The 59-year-old woman from Gorey in Wexford has not worked for some time and had to retire from her job as a special needs assistant last year due to the ongoing effects of her treatment for cancer.
She received chemotherapy and also a mastectomy. The judge noted: “Happily, the treatment was successful and the plantiff is, at present, free of cancer.” In her judgement, Ms Justice Hyland said that – to determine if the plaintiff had been harmed by the alleged negligence – she had to consider whether the cancer was present in June 2015 and if it would have been diagnosed had Freeney been clinically recalled at the time.Evidence was provided by a number of witnesses, including the radiographers who read the test, the radiographer who completed the test and other experts.
According to the note, she agreed that this was not a new lump but she had “renewed concern over it because of the pain”. Furthermore, after hearing evidence on the size of the woman’s tumour and how it had grown, the judge determined that it was a “true interval cancer”.