CervicalCheck patient Orla Church has passed away

CervicalCheck patient Orla Church has passed away.

The 55-year-old had received a false negative on two smear tests taken under the HSE's CervicalCheck programme in 2011 and 2014. Both had reported no abnormalities and advised routine screening. In 2015, Church was admitted to hospital due to pelvic pain. She was later diagnosed with cervical cancer. She passed away in the Mater hospital on January 19. Church was one of over 200 women and patients affected by the CervicalCheck controversy. Patient support group, The 221+, expressed "great sadness" following Church's death. They paid respect to her tireless campaigning and dedication to finding justice following her diagnosis. "We have just learned with great sadness of the death of Orla Church, a member of the 221+ CervicalCheck Patient Support Group," they said yesterday. "We offer deepest sympathy to her entire family and friends at this very difficult and sad time. Many of us got to meet and know Orla in the past months and she was just such a wonderfully courageous, strong and inspiring person." https://twitter.com/221plus/status/1086693014041448450 "All of us in the 221+ CervicalCheck Patient Support Group will be thinking about Orla's family in the coming days and will be available to assist them in any way we can." Church had previously filed a lawsuit against the HSE and the US laboratory they had used as part of their CervicalCheck programme, Quest Diagnositcs Incorporated. She had agreed to mediation earlier this week.