A terminally ill woman who developed cancer after the misreading of two smear tests has been awarded £1.8million (€2.1million) in damages.
Ruth Morrissey and her husband Paul won their case at Dublin's High Court today.
Mrs Morrissey, 37, and her husband, from Monaleen in Co Limerick, sued the Health Service Executive (HSE) and two laboratories, Quest Diagnostics and MedLab Pathology Limited.
Mr Justice Kevin Cross said that Mrs Morrissey's life had been ruined and that she had suffered a life sentence following the blunders.
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Terminally ill mother Ruth Morrissey (left) with her husband Paul (right) pictured outside Dublin's High Court today
Mrs Morrissey was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014.
The court heard that two smear tests the woman had undergone through the Irish Cervical Check screening programme in 2009 and 2012 were reported incorrectly only last year.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Cross found that the laboratory which tested Mrs Morrissey in 2009 was negligent.
He found that the second laboratory which tested her 2012 slide was not negligent, but he said that her screening should have been redone.
The couple won a court case over misreadings of two cervical smear tests in 2009 and 2012
The judge said that the woman would have been reviewed within one to three months if her slides had been properly analysed in 2009 or if the one in 2012 had been deemed inadequate.
Mr Justice Cross said the woman would have probably been retested and she would have undergone treatment once the slides were deemed abnormal.
'She would never have contracted cancer,' the judge said. 'She would have been spared the pain and distress of what followed.'
He added: 'She would not have suffered all her pain and
