Pap smear screening has undeniably gone a long way to helping prevent and fight cervical cancer in women. Regular Pap smear screening is an effective way to detect pre-cancer, which allows patients to start treatment to stop cervical cancer before it even has a chance to develop.

However, the process is not infallible, and the main reason for this is human error. Medical labs may be negligent, failing to detect and thus diagnose cancerous cells that appear in a Pap smear screening, which can place patients at serious risk of developing cervical cancer and being less able to treat it. Another way that signs of cervical cancer might be missed is if the Pap smear screening is defective and presents a false negative.

Pap Smear Screening Basics

The process of Pap smear screening has been around for decades and offers an extremely useful method of detecting cervical cancer before it begins, known as pre-cancer. Largely because of available Pap smear screening services, the death rate for cervical cancer has dropped dramatically.

Essentially, a Pap smear screening collects cells from a patient’s cervix, which are then examined for any evidence of cancer or abnormalities that may indicate the possibility of a future diagnosis of cervical cancer. This allows a patient who shows signs of cancer to undergo preventative treatment, which can stop cancer entirely.

In order to be most effective, women should undergo Pap smear screening regularly. The American Cancer Society encourages women age 21 to 29 to receive Pap smears every three years. Between the ages of 30 and 65, the suggested regularity reduces to every five years.

Pap smear screening has been used to detect cervical cancer for the last sixty years, and they are extremely effective, making cervical cancer one of the most preventable gynecologic cancers. Unfortunately, some who receive a Pap smear screening that clears them of cervical cancer risk may later end up with a cervical cancer diagnosis. This may be due to the negligence of medical labs. For instance, a medical lab may have failed to actually detect cancer cells, even though the cancer was in fact there.

Missing a cervical cancer diagnosis during a Pap smear may mean that a patient is only diagnosed when the cancer has become far more serious, such as when it has already progressed to Stage 3 or Stage 4, which is much more difficult to treat and much more deadly.

Filing a Missed Cervical Cancer Lawsuit

If you received a cervical cancer diagnosis, or your loved one died from cervical cancer, and you believe a medical lab may have missed early signs of cancer in a Pap smear screening that could have prevented the cervical cancer diagnosis altogether, you may be able to file a lawsuit.

Filing a missed cervical cancer lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by cervical cancer, nor can it bring a loved one back to life. But filing a lawsuit can help to alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses, hospital stays, and lost wages.