Botched cancer test woman to meet Harney
The mother-of-three at the centre of a botched breast cancer test controversy will today meet with Minister for Health Mary Harney.
Rebecca O'Malley, 41, from Ballina, Co Tipperary, had a breast removed in a London clinic in June 2006 more than a year after being told by health professionals in Cork that biopsy lab tests were negative.
Ms Harney's office last week invited the woman who went public about her ordeal to talks at Leinster House in Dublin.
The head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) has apologised and ordered a probe into the blunder.
Ms O'Malley said she will be seeking an immediate and public commitment that any recommendations contained in the report into her case will be published.
She will also ask the Minister for Health to back calls for new legislation that will make it mandatory for medical errors to be reported to the patient or their next-of-kin.
In March 2005, Mrs O'Malley underwent a fine needle biopsy in Limerick and results from Cork University Hospital (CUH) said the sample was benign.
The following April she went back to her GP complaining of pains in her breast and a second biopsy in June confirmed she had cancer.
Facing a four-week wait for surgery, she flew to London for a mastectomy and had intensive chemotherapy for the next five months.
She underwent further surgery on lymph nodes in December 2006 after cancer traces were detected.
Last month, as she continued her recovery, the HSE asked her not to go public as CUH was to launch a full inquiry.
Mrs O'Malley said she heard nothing back from the HSE or the hospital for a month.
She said persistent calls for an independent review were ignored.
Some weeks ago, following a blistering attack by Mrs O'Malley on health chiefs for failing to act when the mistake was first noticed, the HSE confirmed "interpretive human error" was to blame for the misdiagnosis in March 2005.
