PAP SMEARS Third woman sues hospital over tests

Two others have accused the hospital of negligence and fraud.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A woman sued a university-affiliated hospital network and one of its hospitals Thursday alleging that she had an unnecessary hysterectomy because a hospital certified thousands of Pap smears that never were reviewed by doctors.
Dona Lischner, 51, is the third patient to file suit and the first to allege that she was actually harmed by the handling of Pap smear tests, routine screenings for gynecological cancers and tissue abnormalities, at the University of Pittsburgh's Magee-Women's Hospital.
Cancer detected
Lischner, of Mount Lebanon, a Pittsburgh suburb, said five tests reviewed by the hospital since 1996 had errors and at least three missed abnormal cells that would have indicated she had cervical cancer.
When the cancer was eventually detected in 2001, she had a hysterectomy which could have been avoided had her Pap tests been properly reviewed, according to her lawsuit. It also said the hospital tried to hide problems with the test by destroying them.
"If they would have recognized it when they should have, she could have avoided a hysterectomy," said her attorney, William Caputo. "She has become very sick."
The lawsuit is the fourth filed against the university-affiliated hospital network and Magee over the handling of Pap smears. As with the other lawsuits, hospital officials denied any wrongdoing.
"If they're trying to hitch their wagon to the allegations in the [physician] lawsuits, they're making a big mistake," hospital attorney William Pietragallo said.
Other cases
Two other women filed a lawsuit last month claiming that the hospital believed it could get more gynecologists to send samples for testing at Magee -- and in turn, make more money -- if the hospital claimed that samples were checked by physicians, rather than technicians.
The women, both of whom got retested after learning from their doctors about the reported practices, accuse the hospital of negligence, fraud and unjust enrichment. They are seeking class-action status for their lawsuit and court-ordered testing for an estimated 40,000 women who had Pap smears reviewed by Magee between 1995 and 2001.
Two doctors -- Susan Silver and Kenneth McCarty Jr. -- have also sued, claiming they were no longer allowed to be pathologists after they reported their concerns to the hospital, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and an accrediting group.
Allegations denied
Officials with the hospital and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have denied the allegations, saying the suits have no merit and could create unnecessary alarm. Hospital officials have also said the hospital's laboratories meet regulatory standards.
The hospital has asked a judge to throw out the other patients' lawsuit, saying it is baseless because the women do not claim they were harmed nor that the tests were improperly reviewed. Magee has asked a judge to throw out Silver's lawsuit on similar grounds, adding that she waited too long to sue the hospital alleging retaliation.