Vicky Phelan began her life in the public eye as a whistleblower and she continued as an outstanding patient advocate over the eight years of living with terminal cancer that followed.

She described herself on social media first and foremost as a “women’s health advocate”, ahead of identifying as someone who was “living with cancer”.

The die was cast in spring 2018 as she was finalising a settlement with the HSE and the US lab that had processed her cervical smear test seven years earlier. That test had shown no abnormalities but on audit in 2014 this result was found to be incorrect.

Ms Phelan had a choice. Lawyers for the lab were prepared to settle with her without admission of liability, but they wanted her to sign a confidentiality agreement.

She balked. Papers uncovered by her own legal team during the case showed she was not the only woman to have had her original negative smear test reclassified as positive. While she could walk away with a handsome settlement that would pay for her future treatment and support her family after her death, the other women might remain in the dark about their reclassified smear test results.

She made the life-redefining decision to call the lawyers’ bluff, reject the non-disclosure agreement and reveal the existence of the other cases.

“The women of Ireland can no longer put their trust in the CervicalCheck programme,” she declared on the steps of the High Court in April 2018, immediately after settling her case. “Mistakes can and...

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