Lab Offers to Pay for Reanalysis of Pap Smears

A Tarzana medical laboratory that was shut down in April for allegedly misdiagnosing too many Pap smears Wednesday announced an offer to pay for reanalysis of millions of smears screened by the lab in the last five years.

Officials of Central Diagnostic Laboratory, responding to demands by state health authorities, said they have sent letters to nearly 15,000 physicians advising them that the rescreening is available for their patients who want it. It will be up to individual doctors whether to notify their patients.

Central Diagnostic’s affiliate, Central Pathology Services Medical Group, closed its doors in April under pressure from state health officials after an inspection found that the lab had misdiagnosed 21% of a random selection of 1,103 Pap smears. The Pap smear is a routine test used to detect medical abnormalities in women, including cervical cancer, which kills an estimated 7,000 U.S. women per year.

Before its closure, Central Pathology screened nearly 700,000 Pap smears a year, more than half of the total in Southern California.

State health officials demanded on April 17 that the firm offer free rescreening and gave Central Pathology thirty days to comply.

Wednesday’s announcement makes moot a portion of a state lawsuit filed May 18, the day after the deadline expired against Central Diagnostic, Central Pathology, and four related defendants. In the Los Angeles Superior Court suit, state officials sought a court order requiring the firms to offer free rescreening. The state continues to seek more than $3 million in damages for alleged deficiencies at Central Pathology.

‘Recognized Their Duty’

Deputy Atty. Gen. Wendi A. Horwitz, who filed the Department of Health Services suit, said she could not comment on specifics of the company’s offer. But she said the health department “is pleased that Central Pathology . . . and Central Diagnostic Laboratory have recognized their duty to notify the affected women.”

In its letter, Central Diagnostic said it is important that doctors, medical laboratories and the government “all work together to restore the confidence of the public in the various procedures involved in an early detection and treatment of cervical cancer.”

According to the letter, each rescreening will be done by “a Pap laboratory fully licensed” by the state and “not affiliated with” Central Diagnostic or its officers. Patients wishing to take advantage of the offer should ask their doctors, who should write Central Diagnostic, the letter said.

Since the lab retained smears for five years as required by law, few office visits should be needed to take new smears, the letter said. If an office visit is required because a Pap slide is broken or unreadable, Central Diagnostic will pay for the visit, the letter said.

Other Labs

Since the April shutdown of Central Pathology, Central Diagnostic has been sending Pap smears to other labs that the firms neither own nor manage.

But one lab being used by Central Diagnostic, DeKalb Laboratory near Philadelphia, was purchased by Central Diagnostic in 1986, according to records on file with Pennsylvania health authorities and the federal Health Care Financing Administration. According to a disclosure form filed in 1988, DeKalb was then taken over by Tarzana-based American Medical Enterprises.

American Medical’s owner is Oscar Harris, an Atlanta, Ga., architect and half brother of the head of Central Diagnostic, Dr. Allen Levy. In federal disclosure forms, American Medical gave its address as 19528 Ventura Blvd., a commercial mail drop operated by Mail Boxes Etc. USA, from which American Medical apparently rents a mailbox.

Central Diagnostic spokesman Martin Cooper said Harris bought DeKalb on the recommendation of Levy, who has no ownership interest in and “nothing to do with” running DeKalb.

He said there is an affiliate relationship in which DeKalb utilizes some expertise from Central Diagnostic. For example, Cooper said, an executive of Central Diagnostic recently helped DeKalb set up an accounting system, for which DeKalb was billed.

Cooper said DeKalb is also licensed in New York, which he said has some of the toughest certification standards.

Josephine Bartola, supervisor of medical laboratories for Pennsylvania, said there is nothing unusual about DeKalb. They “may have some deficiencies just like any other . . . but they’re as good as most.”

Times Staff Writer Greg Crouch contributed to this story.