In the past, cervical cancer has been a real risk for women. Now, with the popularity of cervical cancer screening tests like the Pap smear, women can learn early on if they have a cervical cancer diagnosis.

However, many patients report that they have received a cervical cancer diagnosis despite negative Pap smear tests. They allege that their Pap smear tests have been misread and that their cervical cancer could have been discovered much earlier had mistakes not been made by lab personnel.

What is Cervical Cancer?

Cervical cancer only affects women and is a cancer of the cervix which is located at the lower part of the uterus. When a woman is exposed to human papillomavirus, or HPV, her risk of receiving a cervical cancer diagnosis increases.

According to the Mayo Clinic, “When exposed to HPV, a woman’s immune system typically prevents the virus from doing harm. In a small group of women, however, the virus survives for years, contributing to the process that causes some cells on the surface of the cervix to become cancer cells.”

Cervical cancer occurs when healthy cells experience a mutation and turn into unhealthy, abnormal cells. The Mayo Clinic notes, “It isn’t clear what causes cervical cancer, but it’s certain that HPV plays a role. HPV is very common, and most women with the virus never develop cervical cancer.”

Risk factors for a cervical cancer diagnosis included many sexual partners, early sexual activity, other sexually transmitted infections, smoking and a weak immune system.

Listed preventive actions against a cervical cancer diagnosis include getting vaccinated against HPV, avoiding smoking, practicing safe sex, having fewer sexual partners and getting regular Pap smears.

Missed Cervical Cancer Diagnosis

Pap smear tests can indicate whether cells on the cervix are abnormal. The discovery of abnormal cells can help medical professionals determine if a woman has developed or is developing cervical cancer. This has helped countless women know that they have developed cervical cancer and catch it in its earliest stages. Catching cancer early helps outcomes and can save a woman’s life.

Most of the time, patients do not experience cervical cancer symptoms until the disease in its later stages, so an accurately read Pap smear test is crucial to the detection of cancer. However, some patients claim that their cervical cancer diagnosis was missed because of a misread Pap smear test.

Errors can be made in reading a Pap smear test and one statistic reportedly shows that errors can be made in up to 40 percent of all Pap tests read. These errors can occur because a medical professional or lab technician does not read the results correctly, resulting in a false negative report.

A false-negative Pap smear result shows that there are no abnormal cells on the cervix, when in fact there are. Women who receive a false negative Pap result are at risk for a cervical cancer diagnosis, but aren’t aware that there may be a problem until the cancer has progressed.

If you believe you received a false negative Pap smear test result and later received a cervical cancer diagnosis, you may be eligible for legal compensation.