Cancer victim: malaise deeper than a misread smear

By WARREN GAMBLE and FRANCESCA MOLD

A woman who died of cervical cancer after giving evidence to the Gisborne inquiry blamed the whole health system, not just pathologist Dr Michael Bottrill, who misread her cervical smears.

The woman, who had name suppression, died in Gisborne on June 13. She was married with several adult children.

Her death prompted the Associate Women's Affairs Minister, Phillida Bunkle, who has attended the inquiry, to call yesterday for a cancer control unit and a strategy to better coordinate treatment.

"I guess the overwhelming feeling I've had there is that these women were comprehensively let down because nobody was coordinating, nobody was responsible for their care," Ms Bunkle said.

The inquiry was told the woman's 1995 cervical smear, which showed high-grade abnormalities, was misread by Dr Bottrill.

A second smear the following year was also found to be normal by another doctor. A subsequent rereading found that slide had an inadequate number of cells.

Giving evidence in April, the woman said cancerous tumours were finally diagnosed in September last year after pain in her pelvis and legs, and continued bleeding, made her to go to a doctor.

She said she did not believe what happened to her was all Dr Bottrill's fault, "it is also the fault of the health system."

She said she had a lot of feelings she could not put into words: "I feel anger and frustration - why me, why did this happen to my family?"

The woman said she had undergone radiotherapy and a colostomy operation.

"I now have a bag that I have to clean and empty out. It just gets too much, but I suppose when I get used to it, I will be all right.

"I continue to have good days and bad days. On the bad days I find it very hard to get out of bed."

She felt useless because she could not be there for her family.

"I often think 'wouldn't it be better if I wasn't there?'"

The Gisborne inquiry resumes next Monday and there is likely to be some form of tribute to the woman when it reopens.

However, it has also emerged that a vital audit of the medical records of Gisborne women diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer is unlikely to be carried out for the inquiry, because of privacy regulations.

The audit, proposed by public health specialist Professor David Skegg and his colleague Dr Ann Richardson, would have been presented to help to determine whether mistakes were made in the reporting of cervical cancer cases.

The study had been described by Professor Skegg and Scottish pathologist Dr Euphemia McGoogan, who gave evidence at the inquiry, as important in identifying whether the national screening programme was up to standard.

But the Tairawhiti regional ethics committee has told researchers they must obtain written consents from all the women, or legal representatives of those who had died.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Royden Hindle told the Herald that the decision meant the audit could not be carried out in time for the reconvened hearings.

"In fact, there are question-marks about whether it can ever proceed."

Questions have been raised at the inquiry about the legal restrictions on the release of information about women, held by the cervical cancer registry.

Under section 74a of the Health Act, the Health Funding Authority would have to give approval for access to the screening register, which it administers.

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