Quest Diagnostics is accused of mishandling Pap smears they received for testing from Ireland.

A woman known only as Mrs. K. said her misread Pap smear allegedly resulted in her becoming terminally ill from cervical cancer. She settled a lawsuit in June that she and her husband had filed against Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) and Quest Diagnostics, based in New Jersey.

The HSE provides a CervicalCheck helpline that informs women of their test results. CervicalCheck performed an audit of Pap smears and found in 209 cases, pre-cancerous cells were found but were reported as normal. The results of the audit were announced in April and has resulted in more than 25,000 calls to the hotline.

Mrs. K., now 61, alleges HSE and Quest mishandled Pap smears that she had undergone in 2009 and 2012, because those results indicated no abnormalities were found. CervicalCheck’s audit found that those results were not true and that pre-cancerous cells actually were present on both her 2009 and 2012 Pap smears.

She was initially diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016. After she learned of the issues with the mishandled Pap smears, she decided to obtain another Pap smear this year. She allegedly was told that her cervical cancer had not only returned, but at this point, it was terminal.

Mishandled Pap Smears Spark Lawsuits

According to the HSE, more than 90 percent of Pap smears are analyzed by Quest Diagnostics in New Jersey.

More lawsuits allegedly will be forthcoming, but the women and the families of deceased women are waiting for medical records from the HSE’s CervicalCheck system.

The lawyer representing Mrs. K. and her husband told The Irish Times he is working with many more women who are affected by the mishandled Pap smears.

In Mrs. K.’s case, she reportedly received a call back from HSE’s CervicalCheck helpline while she was at an appointment to be fit for a wig. The chemotherapy treatments she had endured to treat her terminal cervical cancer had caused her to lose her hair.

She allegedly had called the helpline twice and been waiting for a call back for weeks after she had been informed at a doctor’s appointment that her Pap smear was one of 209 mishandled Pap smears.

The HSE was indemnified by Quest, which settled Mrs. K’s case quickly.

Even though the Pap smear test has been used successfully for 60 years to find pre-cancerous cells, the results are susceptible to human error. Cell changes on the cervix that could develop into cervical cancer if left untreated are not always easy to see with the human eye.

Medical lab staff look at millions of Pap smear slides every year. Because each individual slide must be seen through a microscope by human eyes, some misdiagnosed cervical cancer may go undetected due to fatigue of the lab technician examining the slide.

Medical laboratories are ultimately responsible for completing the tests on samples they receive and for interpreting those results with accuracy.