Irish cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan died today aged 48 after uncovering one of the biggest medical scandals in recent times.
The Limerick mother-of-two grabbed national headlines after bringing a High Court case over how her cervical smears were handled, ultimately prompting a series of reviews of Ireland’s cervical cancer screening programme, CervicalCheck.
Causes off Death
She died early this morning at Milford Hospice in Limerick, and is survived by her husband Jim and her children Amelia and Darragh, aged 16 and 11 respectively.
Originally from Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny, Ms Phelan first underwent a smear test for cervical cancer in 2011. Although her test results showed no abnormalities, Vicky was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 2014 and a subsequent internal review by CervicalCheck found its original result to be incorrect. She was not informed of that find until 2017.
Ms Phelan sued the US laboratory that reviewed the Irish smear tests, Clinical Pathology Laboratories, and the case was settled for €2.5m.
Her campaign led to the establishment of an independent investigation, led by public health expert Dr. Gabriel Scally, who reported on the controversy in 2018, which found that at least 221 women diagnosed with cervical cancer who were not previously informed on smear tests reported incorrectly and could have been alerted to the early stages of cancer.
He later founded the 221+ CervicalCheck Patient Support Group, which offers help to victims of the CervicalCheck screening scandal. The mother of two was also named one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2018, and she wrote a memoir called Overcoming in 2019 describing her ordeal, which became An Post’s Book of the Year.
Ms Phelan was called “a woman of extraordinary courage and integrity” as Irish politicians paid tribute to the cervical cancer campaigner.
This is very, very sad news. I think she was a woman of extraordinary courage and integrity, that she stood up for the women of Ireland, but not just the women of Ireland, but the women of the whole world.”
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She extended her ‘deepest condolences’ to her family.
“I think in the history of this country, I think his actions, particularly in terms of not signing a confidentiality agreement at that particular time and his statement, and in the steps of the High Court will live long in memory as an example. of someone who opposed the system and the normal conventions of action and so on to say ‘no, I’m not going to sign that, I want this to be revealed in the public interest’ and she defended the public interest, “he added. .
In an emotional tribute to the CervicalCheck campaigner, former Labor leader Alan Kelly called the news “devastating”.
Such incredibly sad news – there aren’t enough words to describe the loss of Vicky Phelan, sincerest sympathies to Vicky’s family and friends, Vicky meant so much to us all and we have so much to thank her for all she did for women in Ireland.’
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald described Ms Phelan as a ‘champion of women’ who took on the State and won.
“Very sad news,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Vicky Phelan inspired so many people with her courageous campaign, her warmth and her determination, despite her own illness. Deep condolences to her family.
Source: https://wikisoon.com/
