Wexford Woman Nadia Dempsey has been refused insurance for medical treatments following discrepancies in routine smear tests.
30 year old Nadia Dempsey had a smear test when getting an IUD in Ireland when she was home for a few weeks – that came back normal but further tests in Thailand the following year showed abnormal cells leading to even more tests to be done.
Speaking to Alan on ‘Morning Mix’ Nadia explained that “All subsequent tests since passing on the Ireland results have came back with atypical cells, cancer cells, so far I know I have CIN III.” Nadia went on to explain one of the difficulties of being treated in a foreign country “the language barrier is difficult here and sometimes they are not so clear when I need them to be.” Nadia however knows if she was to go back home to get treatment she would be waiting a lot longer.
When asked about the possibility of her previous smear tests being incorrect Nadia says ” I am looking into legal advice for the lab that ultimately missed my cells leading me to be in this situation and requiring this. Someone has to be held accountable. ”
This comes in the week where Cervical check campaigner Vicky Phelan passed away following a battle with cancer. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and began treatment weeks later. A review by the HSE discovered the mistake from three years earlier but no one told Phelan until 2017. A year later, she discovered the cancer was terminal.
She sued and won a settlement of €2.5m without admission of liability from Clinical Pathology Laboratories, a Texas-based company subcontracted to assess her test. Crucially, she resisted a gagging order and lifted the lid on a wider debacle. Inaccurate smear test results had been given to at least 208 women later diagnosed with cervical cancer. Most were not told about the revised results. At least 21 have died.
Nadia who now lives in Thailand is due to get a hysterectomy this weekend and says the stress of dealing with no insurance cover was not what she needed at this time. Her sister Natalie has set up a go fund me page to help raise funds for Nadia’s increasing medical expenses. “The costs so far have been €4000 with the hysterectomy around €10,000. They plan to not take my ovaries so I have decided that I want to try and retrieve my eggs and freeze them. The costs of this can be from €5600 to then IVF costing €12,000”. You can donate to Nadia’s go fund me page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nadia-dempsey-kicking-cancer
You can hear the full interview with Nadia Dempsey on ‘Morning Mix’ with Alan Corcoran here:https://pod.space/morningmix/the-director-of-services-at-wexford-county-council-eamonn-hore-speaks-about-the-boil-water-notice-in-wexford-town-barntown-and-taghmon
Morning Mix with Alan Corcoran airs Monday-Friday from 10am to 12pm on South East Radio.
