02-06-2025
Play tells story of Vicky Phelan's heroic battle for justice
The late Vicky Phelan's fight to expose the cervical cancer screening scandal has been turned into play.
The show is based on the life of the mother-of-two, who became a leading cancer awareness advocate. Ms Phelan, from Mooncoin, Co. Kilkenny, died in November 2022 aged just 48, in Co. Limerick's Milford hospice.
Her death might have been averted had a 2011 smear test not produced a false negative result for abnormalities.
A review by the HSE discovered the mistake from three years earlier, but Ms Phelan was not informed until 2017, and a year later she was told her diagnosis was terminal. The late Vicky Phelan's fight to expose the cervical cancer screening scandal has been turned into play. Pic: Leah Farrell/
She sued and won a settlement of €2.5million, and resisted a gagging order. In the aftermath of her case it was revealed that inaccurate smear test results had been given to at least 208 women later diagnosed with cervical cancer – the majority of whom were not told about the revised results. More than 20 of the women have died of cervical cancer since.
The play, titled Smear and written by Christa De Brún, will be performed at the Coastguard Cultural Centre in Tramore, Co. Waterford, from June 20 to 22.
