Harris: State to appeal €2.1m compensation awarded to Ruth Morrissey
The State Claims Agency is to appeal a High Court judgment involving Ruth Morrissey, a terminally ill woman with cervical cancer.
A spokesperson said that the appeal doesn't relate to a High Court decision to award the Limerick woman and her husband €2.1m in damages.
Ruth Morrissey and her husband Paul sued the HSE and two US laboratories, Quest Diagnostics and Medlab Pathology Ltd, over an an alleged failure to correctly report her smear samples taken in 2009 and 2012.
In a landmark judgment earlier this year, the High Court awarded the couple damages amounting to €2.1m.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Kevin Cross said that if her 2009 smear had been properly analysed and her 2012 slide was deemed inadequate, what probably would have followed meant she would never have contracted cancer and would not have less than two years to live.
In a statement issued today, a spokesman for the State Claims Agency said the agency was acting on behalf of the HSE, and its appeal was focused on "a number of important legal points that may have significant implications for the State."
He added that the appeal did not relate to the High Court's decision to award damages to the couple.
