A High Court case stirred by the bereaved spouse of a woman, who was diagnosed with cancer too late, has been resolved. Mary Gilroy, formerly from Ballytivnan, Sligo, passed away at her home aged 71 years in May 2020, following her detection of terminal cancer in January 2019.
The plaintiff’s legal counsel, Alistair Rutherdale, alleged gross malpractice via a significant delay in her diagnosis after being put under the care of Sligo University Hospital. He also claimed that an initial delay of about two months existed in referring her for further medical scrutiny by her GPs. The doctors, however, denied this allegation.
Paul Gilroy, the deceased’s husband, lodged a lawsuit against the Health Service Executive and two family doctors, Eamon Murphy and Roisin Brennan, both based at the Market Street Family Practice in Sligo. The case was solved through mediation, and no culpability was admitted by the physicians.
According to the HSE, an inordinate delay transpired in Mary’s diagnosis, from her referral to the hospital in April 2018 until her adenocarcinoma diagnosis in January 2019, which amounted to a breach of duty. However, other allegations were refuted.
Mr Rutherdale and Oonah McCrann SC revealed that a letter of apology from the hospital given to Mr Gilory and their two grown-up sons offered some solace. The settlement includes a statutory payment of €35,000.
In light of the settlement, Mr Justice Paul Coffey offered his sincerest condolences to the family.
In his legal suit, Mr Gilroy increasingly feared for his health and mourned his loss, citing negligence and violation of responsibility by the defendants.
According to his claims, Mrs Gilroy initially visited her local GP surgery with issues of bleeding and urinary symptoms in February 2018. She received treatment for an infection from Dr Murphy and was planned for additional testing as part of the action claimed.
A few days after revisiting her medical practice, it was suggested that Dr Brennan intended for her to have an ultrasound scan, however the referral purportedly didn’t occur until April 4th of the same year. The subsequent allegation was that upon her ultrasound at Kingsbridge hospital, a referral letter was dispatched to Sligo University Hospital on April 24th. In a scenario where she couldn’t connect with the gynaecology unit of Sligo hospital via a telephone call, it led to her revisiting Dr Brennan two days later. Allegedly, the GP wrote an extra letter to the hospital requesting an “urgent” review.
According to the account, on June 26th, 2018, she was seen by the gynaecology registrar after she made a visit to the emergency department at Sligo hospital. The alleged reports note nausea, vomiting, bleeding and weight loss among her symptoms.
The following five months were characterized by her frequenting the hospital seven times for various evaluations and monitoring. An alleged scan in early January 2019 showcased a large primary endometrial tumour, several swollen pelvic lymph nodes and a separate metastasis.
The details of the case pointed towards a stage 4 cancer diagnosis which surfaced on February 20th during her visit to the Mater hospital.
The case put forth that she ought to have gotten a gynaecology appointment within a fortnight of being referred and her diagnosis ought to have been concluded within a month and a day. The case further alleged that if diagnosed by the end of May 2018, she would have been possibly diagnosed with stage 2 endometrial cancer, which could have been more receptive to treatment.
Instead, it was claimed that her appointment was not scheduled until around 10 weeks after her GP’s referral letter and the diagnosis took 37 weeks following the first referral.