Negligence in Interpretation of Pap Smears

What Can Go Wrong Sometimes Does
A True Story (continued)

In criticism of the zero error standard, several authors have suggested that inter-observer variation is a justification for asserting that since there are differences of opinion about the precise diagnosis to be made on a particular cellular specimen, that no diagnosis made of the specimen is an error. If there is agreement that a Pap smear is abnormal, consensus as to the degree of abnormality is not critical. It is the failure of a given observer to recognize an abnormal smear is present which is the gravest of errors. Such errors need our fullest attention and introspection because it is precisely these errors that take patients out of the mainstream of continued clinical evaluation and lead to needless delay and destructive consequences. Thus, assuming that all women will undergo repeated cytologic screening and assuming that adequate material is obtained, correctly interpreted and correctly handled by the clinicians, one can anticipate a significant further decrease in the incidence of carcinoma of the uterine cervix and ultimately, even if there is no further therapeutic progress, a disappearance of carcinoma of the cervix as a cause of mortality.

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Negligence in Interpretation of Pap Smears

What Can Go Wrong Sometimes Does A True Story (continued)

What Can Go Wrong Sometimes Does
A True Story (continued)