A woman from Ohio says she experienced a delayed diagnosis of cancer, severely complicating her health.

Quest Diagnostics is facing these allegations in a new lawsuit, alleging the company failed to identify cancer cells in cervical tissue collected from the woman’s routine Pap smear exam, thereby giving the cancer time to spread.

Plaintiff Caitlin D. alleges the delayed diagnosis of cancer allowed the disease to progress to an advanced stage. According to the lawsuit, Caitlin underwent two routine Pap smear exams that had given her one false negative result, leaving her cancer undiagnosed until April 2018.

Caitlin says she underwent the first Pap smear exam on May 14, 2012 and the second one on June 1, 2015, with both tests processed and analyzed by Quest Diagnostics. In both these cases, the results produced negative results, she says.

However, the lawsuit alleges the 2015 Pap smear result was a “false negative.” The slides allegedly showed the prescience of cervical carcinoma.

Due to the false negative results from the 2015 Pap smear exam, Caitlin says her delayed diagnosis of cancer has compromised her health and she says she is likely to continue suffering severe physical pain from invasive medical treatments.

The lawsuit asserts that had the Pap smear slides been interrupted correctly, then Caitlin would have received timely treatment and most likely would be cured of cervical cancer.

Caitlin opted to file legal action against Quest Diagnostics soon after her diagnosis, alleging the company was directly responsible for her cervical cancer progressing to an advanced stage.

Overview of Misdiagnosed Cervical Cancer Concern

Cervical cancer used to be one of the most common causes of death for women in the United States until the Pap smear test was invented over 60 years ago. The test is normally very accurate in detecting early stage cancer cells in cervical tissue, which allows women to receive treatment before cancer even begins to develop.

This means that women who undergo regular Pap smear exams almost never have to worry about cervical cancer developing to dangerous stages, but the rise of false negative results has unfortunately curved these results.

According to WebMD, cervical cancer occurs when cervix cells grow in an abnormal fashion and spread to other areas of the body, and can even progress to deeper parts of the cervix if it is invasive. However, cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers due to the effectiveness of Pap smear exams and can be cured without much trouble in early stages.

Pap smears are so effective in their purposes that the American Cancer Society used to recommend women undergo yearly exams starting at age 18 or when they became sexually active. They have since relaxed the age requirements to 21 at every three years.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 13,170 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed and approximately 4,250 women will die from this condition. Even with the rise of false negative results, women should still undergo this very important health procedure. However, it is vital for Quest Diagnostics and other lab testing companies to have these samples properly analyzed to prevent delayed diagnoses.

This Cervical Cancer Missed Diagnosis Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-00880-WOB, in the Court of Common Pleas in Hamilton County, Ohio.