My sister just passed away on Tuesday, she had cervical cancer and found out in November (stage 3) and doctors said it was too advanced. She had radiation and chemo. She was only 45 years old and she went to the gyn every year for her pap smear. So where did they go wrong or how come it wasn't detected? She was very health consious.
Please help me understand, I say this is not fair!!!!
2007-03-11 06:00:29 · 5 answers · asked by Meche 5 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Cancer
I'm sorry for your loss. May God comfort you and your family and give you peace.
It could have been just a very aggressive case of cancer that developed between her pap smears. Ask the doctor for more details. Sometimes labs misread pap smears.
You could also hire an attorney to look into malpractice issues if you are up for that. The experience will be traumatic while you are grieving. You might just want to find out how long you can wait to file a lawsuit.
Getting money would not be your objective, I know. Money won't bring your sister back. However, if there was malpractice on the part of the doctor or labs, a lawsuit will ensure that they are more careful in the future. It is a shame, but sometimes only monetary awards seem to ensure that those we entrust with our health are as vigilent as they should be. Filing a suit might help other families to not have to grieve as you are grieving now.
Again, my condolences and the peace and love of God be with you all.
2007-03-11 06:09:30 · answer #1 · answered by amazingly intelligent 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Pap smears negative results are not 100% conclusive.
-The sample taken may not have had cancerous/pre-cancerous cells.
-The cancer may have been extremely fast growing.
-The lab workers may have just plain misread the results.
Check out a layman's explanation by looking up pap smear on wikipedia.org. According to wikipedia, false negatives have a 15-35% rate. That seems to indicate about 1 in 4!!!! That's why a secondary test like the HPV test should also be performed.
I know it seems unfair but, your sister is not the first nor will be the last for this to happen.
2007-03-11 23:23:04 · answer #2 · answered by oncogenomics 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You are right, it isn't fair. If you are truly interested in finding out why this happened so quickly (and this is unusual, Cervical /uterine cancer grows very slowly) I would seek out an attorney who can subpoena the pap smear record from the cytotechnologist who read the slide...from which ever lab the slide was sent to. It isn't beyond the realm of possibility that the slide was misread. Good luck...bad things happen to good people!
2007-03-11 14:56:25 · answer #3 · answered by bflogal77 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm sorry for your loss. I know that it is hard, but no one ever said that life is fair. It is not.
There really isn't anyone to blame. Your sister could have had a false reading on her Pap smear, maybe she ignored it for too long . . who knows . . advanced cancer is extremely hard to detect in young people because . . they are very healthy and can co-exist for a long time with cancer. Cancer in young people is often asymptomatic. I know because it happened to my 17 year old. He had no symptoms until the last few weeks before diagnosis. By than he was already a stage IV. It just happens.
Peace to you.
Incidentally, you've already asked this question twice:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As797jNl.2sX2Tlfn6tdQ6Lty6IX?qid=20070309131125AARLDpO
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsdTakQGytzKmnLCs5UF8_fty6IX?qid=20070309131527AAtfN7z
2007-03-11 13:42:42 · answer #4 · answered by Panda 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm so sorry.
I can understand your bitterness. I'm sure I would feel the same too. She did everything right. There's nothing more she could have done. Why it wasn't picked up, I just don't know. Sadly, with cancer, there aren't any symptoms most times until it's very advanced.
Sometimes there just are no answers.
2007-03-11 21:31:20 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋