Woman Can’t Seek Punitive Damages for Lab Error

A California Supreme Court ruling released Friday will prevent a San Clemente woman from seeking punitive damages against a Tarzana laboratory that allegedly misdiagnosed her Pap smear.

The ruling came in a suit by Constance Chatwood Hull, 38, who said Central Pathology Services Medical Group missed cancer that caused her to undergo a hysterectomy more than a year later. The lab handled an estimated 700,000 Pap smears a year until it was shut down by the state in 1989 after an inspection found a 21% error rate.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that under state law, Hull and other patients suing medical providers for intentional acts--including fraud, battery and infliction of emotional distress--cannot seek punitive damages until they have obtained permission from the court and proven that they are likely to win.

“Obviously I’m very disappointed, but it’s just one battle,” Hull said.

Hull’s suit has not been heard. But attorneys representing the lab had sought an independent ruling on her attempt to amend the suit to seek punitive damages in addition to compensation for medical bills and pain and suffering.

The justices cited a state tort reform law that requires anyone seeking punitive damages for professional negligence from a health care provider to first obtain permission from the court. No such requirement exists for suits against other kinds of defendants.

Hull said she had a Pap smear in June, 1988, which produced no warning that she had cancer.

When another Pap test 15 months later showed a malignancy, Hull said, she half-jokingly asked her doctor if the first test had been done by the Tarzana lab, which she had read had been been closed for making inaccurate diagnoses.

Hull said her doctor denied the lab did the test, but she learned it had. A second analysis of the specimen determined that cancerous cells had been visible, her suit says.