Women are still reporting cervical cancer misdiagnosis despite getting a regular Pap smear, also known as a Pap test.

A Pap smear can dramatically reduce the chances for the development of cervical cancer even before it starts. The Pap smear was introduced almost 60 years ago. Since then it has radically improved women’s prospect of surviving cervical cancer, which used to be the leading cause of cancer death among American women.

In fact, Pap smears are very effective at finding pre-cancerous conditions and can help prevent cervical cancer before it begins. Women who regularly get Pap smears may avoid getting a cervical cancer diagnosis.

But why is cervical cancer misdiagnosis occurring? The answer may be in possible mistakes by those in charge of reading Pap smear tests at medical labs and those responsible for detecting cancerous cells on Pap smear tests. Such acts can be deemed negligent.

For the case of a Florida woman, this is exactly what happened. She suffered from a cervical cancer misdiagnosis and died. The woman received a positive Pap smear test that detected and identified cancerous cells.

Her husband later filed a medical malpractice lawsuit and sued the medical lab for negligence. In 2014, the jury found the medical lab guilty of negligence and awarded the woman’s family $15.8 million for wrongful death.

Overview: Cervical Cancer Misdiagnosis

What occurs with a cervical cancer misdiagnosis is that a woman is told that she has a normal Pap smear. However, she may return only a few years later to find that she has Stage 3 or Stage 4 cervical cancer. This is a considerably unfortunate event as this could have all been prevented had the Pap smear report been interpreted correctly.

According to the American Cancer Society, “Although the Pap test has been more successful than any other screening test in preventing a cancer, it’s not perfect. One of the limitations of the Pap test is that the results need to be examined by the human eye, so an accurate analysis of the hundreds of thousands of cells in each sample is not always possible.”

If you or someone you know has suffered from a cervical cancer misdiagnosis, you may be eligible to file a cervical cancer negligence lawsuit. The benefits of filing a cervical cancer negligence lawsuit may include assistance for covering any of the following:

• Pain and suffering
• Wrongful death
• Missed work
• Hospital stays
• Medical expenses
• More

According to the American Cancer Society, roughly 13,240 people will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in the U.S. Additionally, 4,170 women are also estimated to die from cervical cancer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also reports that approximately 28.5 million Pap tests are ordered within physician offices, and that there are 3.5 million Pap tests ordered within outpatient hospital departments. Some labs may process an enormous number of Pap smear tests every day, and overworked lab technicians may possibly be one of the reasons for cervical cancer misdiagnoses.