News sources report of cases in which a hospital’s errors in a pap smear screening resulted in cervical cancer being missed, and patients are paying the cost.

The Daily Mail reports that a hospital in Bristol missed multiple cases of cervical cancer because of errors in pap smear screening.

Pap smears are usually a very effectively way to screen for cervical cancer so it can be treated before it becomes severe. However, pap smears can be read incorrectly, which can lead to cervical cancer not being spotted before it gets worse.

A pap smear screening involves collecting cells that must be analyzed by a human, so in some cases, human error can cause an incorrect diagnosis to be delivered to a patient. Such was the case at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, according to reports, and it allegedly occurred more than once.

Southmead Complications

In 2014, the hospital and the North Bristol NHS Trust had to pay a negligence payout to a woman who had had a cervical cancer pap smear screening done at the hospital. Allegedly, the results of two screenings showed that she was cancer free, when really, she did have cervical cancer. She then reportedly had to have a hysterectomy, and is requesting that the pathology department at Southmead be subjected to a review for malpractice.

Unfortunately, a similar error occurred again, according to the Daily Mail, after the same hospital reportedly failed to properly diagnose cervical cancer in the pap smear screening in one of their own nurses, Julie O. Allegedly, she first began having pap smears at the hospital in 2014, and six times was told that she did not have cervical cancer. She reportedly passed away from cervical cancer in February 2019.

The woman with whom the hospital reached a payout said that “the year Julie had her first smear was the year my case concluded and they [the trust] said they had made all these changes.” However, she said that she wondered if they really did make any of the changes they claimed, because a similar problem occurred again.

The woman also worried that many other cases of cervical cancer may have been missed by the hospital.

Pap Smear Errors

Sadly, cases of a missed cervical cancer diagnosis due to due an error in pap smear screening aren’t limited to Southmead Hospital.

The Irish Mirror reports that a 42 year-old woman named Margaret is filing a lawsuit over her missed cervical cancer diagnosis. She says that she was diagnosed with cervical cancer after two rounds of pap smear screening incorrectly showed that she was healthy. According to Margaret, she is now infertile because her cancer was not caught sooner, and reports that she had to go through serious and traumatizing procedures to treat her cancer. 

Margaret told the Mirror: “The reason I’m suing is because I have had cervical cancer and I am now at a higher risk of getting further cancers for the rest of life. I need to know that if this happens further down the line, that I have…a cushion if I’m going into hospital for treatments that cost a fortune — that I’m not under financial pressure as well as going through cancer again.”