Pap Smear Warning to Go to Other States

California health officials said Tuesday that they will issue an advisory to warn health officers nationwide that a Tarzana medical laboratory accused of misdiagnosing medical tests may have done business in their states.

Department of Health Services spokesman Norm Hartman said the advisory will warn that the laboratory, Central Pathology Services Medical Group, misdiagnosed 21% of a random selection of Pap smear tests and was shut down in April. He said the notice will be issued through the National Public Health Information Coalition, which represents public health officers in 42 states.

Hartman said he believed the lab handled tests from Washington, Indiana, Arizona and Illinois, among others.

“Quite a lot of business came from out of state,” he said. “Thirty to 40% of the obstetricians and gynecologists in Chicago were sending their business to this lab.”

A spokesman for the lab, Martin Cooper, said it “is an inaccurate perception that a significant amount of business out of this lab came from out of state.”