The family of a 24-year-old woman who died after her smear test was said to have been misread has supported calls for a public inquiry into Northern Ireland's cervical screening service. Louise Corbett Gibbons, from near Katesbridge in County Down, died from cervical cancer in 2008. Her death is not linked to the cervical screening scandal involving the Southern Health Trust but her widower Neville Gibbons and aunt Joy Fairley joined campaigners to mark three years since those issues came to light.
The Southern Trust scandal led to 17,500 women being approached to have their smear tests rechecked as part of a major review of screening dating back to 2008. Campaigners calling themselves the Ladies with Letters have since been calling for a statutory public inquiry into what went wrong. They also argue that while the scandal involved the Southern Trust, other health trusts in Northern Ireland could have been affected. 17,500 cervical smear tests to be re-checked Reports provide 'no outcome' for women impacted by misread smear tests Campaign 'far from over' as minister rules out cervical screening inquiry Gibbons told BBC News NI that when Louise received her diagnosis she was told she would "be gone within the month".
He said the pair, who had been together for eight years, got married the following week. Louise died three weeks later. He said the wedding was "the saddest day of my life".
"Like, watching your wife in a wheelchair and knowing she's going to be dead in a few weeks," he said. "My mind wasn't good for a very long time." He said when the Southern Trust screening scandal came to light, it brought back many difficult memories. He said Louise's family had been told that her smear had been misread but that "she would have passed away anyway".
That was something he said the family could not accept. "I think she was never given the chance to start off with," he said. Louise was a patient of the Belfast Health Trust.
BBC News NI has written to the trust for comment. Enda McGarrity, a solicitor for the Ladies with Letters, said there were "many women" from outside the Southern Trust who had been affected by cervical screening issues. He said the renewed call by the Ladies with Letters for a public inquiry therefore went beyond the Southern Trust, which he said had "illuminated things much more clearly".
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