Three N.Y. Officials Disciplined in Mishandling of Pap Test Results

City Health Commissioner Woodrow A. Myers fired a top aide and reassigned two others Monday in a sweeping departmental shake-up prompted by the mishandling of Pap smear test results.

Calling it a “betrayal of public trust,” Myers told a news conference that an investigation found a combination of mismanagement and poor supervision led to “critical delays” in notifying women tested at city-run clinics of findings that could indicate they had cervical cancer.

While no women apparently have died as a result of the mishandling, Myers indicated that some could be at risk.

In response to questions, he said the Health Department already was facing at least one lawsuit, but refused to discuss it further or to speculate on whether more legal actions may occur.

The scandal, first brought to light in newspaper reports several months ago, involved Pap tests administered to some 3,000 women at city-run clinics. The tests were allowed to accumulate for a year without lab analysis or notice of the results to the patients.

When the tests were finally read, 600 women were found to have abnormalities, including 11 cases where cancerous cells were found and 93 where pre-cancer conditions existed.

All but two of 104 women whose test results were most ominous have been located by the department, Myers said.

He conceded there was a “very low” prospect for finding the other two, one of whom he said had used a false name, while the other was wanted by the FBI in an unrelated matter.

Myers named a six-member panel in May to investigate the affair.