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Biotech / Medical : ACMI - Accumed Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: XaviarCane who wrote (961)	1/6/1998 6:25:00 PM
From: CARYTRE	Respond to of 1894

TO WORLD WIDE ACMI FANS!! DATELINE CHICAGO - THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE APPEARED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE CHICAGO SUN TIMES TODAY: $3.5 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR MISREAD PAP TESTS. A former Arlington Heights woman will receive $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit she brought against a Lake County medical laboratory that failed two years in a row to diagnose her cervical cancer from pap smears, her attorney said Monday. Because of the error, Wendy Laude, 35, didn't learn she had cervical cancer until it had been allowed to spread, greatly diminishing her chance for a cure, said her attorney, Kevin G. Burke. Laude, who lives in minnesota with her husband and 5 year old son, said she advises women, "Take the Paps. They are important. Bug your doctor. Find out who they're using for labs. Find out if they've had problems." Laude found out about the cancer during a doctor's examination in Nov. 1995, whe her gynecologist detected a mass and performed a biopsy, Burke said. Laude had received Pap smears at her doctor's direction in April, 1994, and May 1995, but technicians at Consolidated Medical Laboratories in Lake Bluff had declared the results to be "within normal limits". But experts for Laude who rereviewed the same slides "identified clear evidence of localized cervical cancer which could have been effectively treated" Burke said. The Pap screen has been credited witth reducing the number of annual cervical cancer deaths by more than 70% since it was introduced four decades ago, but reports of laboratory errors have been a cause of concern with the large number of tests that are performed. Laude underwent a historectomy after the cancer was diagnosed, but five months later she found that the cancer had spread to her ovaries and abdomen. After additional surgery, Laude underwent six weeks of radiation treatment followed by nine months of chemotherapy. Laude is currently "free of cancer and is living her life to the fullest with her husband and son" Burke said. Mathew Hamlin, executive director of Consolidated Medical Laboratories, said the company regrets what he called an "isolated incident". "Were certainly very concerned for this patient and her well being" Hamlin said. Hamlin said none of the personnel involved in mishandling Laudes Pap smears still work for the laboratory, which has had new management since 1996. He said there have been no similar problems since Laudes situation was discovered.