Yes, but people are running scared.  It is the lay jury they must ultimately
convince that they are not guilty of negligence.  Defense lawyers often
recommend settling out of court, as the lay jury can't understand the
nuances and plaintiff lawyers are paid to argue day is night.  We have no
idea how many such settlements occur annually, as both parties are
restricted by the terms of the agreement NOT to discuss the details.  If
there were no legal consequences to false negative Pap smears, THERE WOULD
BE NO MARKET FOR AUTOMATED CYTOLOGICAL TECHNOLOGIES.

Gary Gill

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Henwood [mailto:henwood@mail.one.net.au]
> Sent: April 12, 1999 5:36 PM
> To: Gary W. Gill; Beth Sheppard
> Cc: Histonet; John van Marsdijk
> Subject: Re: usersr of PAPnet
>
>
> My 2 cents worth:
>
> Isn't the PAP smear a screening test? In fact isn't it one of the
> most effective screening tests ever introduced ???
>
> The new technologies seem to attempt to make this screening test into
> a diagnostic test. What are colposcopy and biopsy for?
>
> Regards, Tony
> Tony Henwood
> www2.one.net.au/~henwood
>