£800,000 for Cancer Screening Failure

The family of a woman who died of cervical cancer earlier this year has been awarded compensation after medical professionals repeatedly failed to detect abnormalities during routine screening tests.

Debbie Phillips had regular smear tests over a 16-year period. In 2006, she was told that abnormal cells had been detected and was subsequently diagnosed with cervical cancer. She underwent surgery to remove a tumour, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment. At first, it appeared that the treatment had been successful and Mrs Phillips was in remission. Two years later, however, scans revealed that the cancer had returned and had spread to her lungs, neck and head. She was told that there was no cure.

Mrs Phillips and her husband, Mark, took legal advice and an investigation was carried out to see if something had been overlooked in the earlier smear tests. A re-examination of the slides revealed that signs of the disease should have been picked up many years earlier. Between 1990 and 2005, more than ten of the tests showed abnormalities and an independent report found that ‘no screener exercising reasonable care could have failed to see the abnormal cells. They should most certainly not have dismissed them as an insignificant finding.’

Mrs Phillips began a claim alleging medical negligence against four doctors on account of the failure to diagnose her condition. She hoped that any compensation award would go a small way to alleviating the suffering of the couple’s three children. After she died, her husband continued the claim on her behalf.

In the face of clear evidence of negligence, the High Court approved a compensation settlement of £800,000.