Medical lab pleads no contest to misreading pap smears.

A suburban Milwaukee medical laboratory charged with reckless homicide for allegedly misreading Pap smears of two women who later died of cervical cancer entered no contest pleas shortly before the case was set to go to trial.

Details of the plea agreement between Chem-Bio Corp. and prosecutors were not made public. But Circuit Court Judge David Hansher did not immediately enter a verdict against the company, which will be allowed to appeal certain parts of the case. (Wisconsin v. Chem-Bio Corp., No. 951573 (Wis., Milwaukee County Cir. Ct. Dec. 4, 1995).)

Sentencing for Chem-Bio, of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, was scheduled for February 22. Chem-Bio owned the laboratory that evaluated the Pap smears.

The company had faced a maximum fine of $20,000 if convicted of reckless homicide in the death of Dolores Geary, 40, and second-degree reckless homicide in the death of Karin Smith, 29. (Lab Pleads No Contest in Deaths of 2 Women, N.Y. Times, Dec. 5, 1995, at A9.)

The women's families have already received settlements of $10 million after civil suits against Chem-Bio and their health maintenance organization, Family Health Plan. But Smith asked before she died that prosecutors also pursue criminal charges. (Smith v. Wisconsin Health Care Liability Insurance Plan, No. 92-CV-000342 (Wis., Milwaukee County Cir. Ct. July 15, 1993); Geary v. St. Paul Fire & Casualty Insurance Co., No. 91-CV-006156 (Wis., Milwaukee County Cir. Ct. Dec. 9, 1994).)

In an earlier inquest, experts testified that the Pap smears - gynecological tests for detecting cervical cancer - had consistently shown obvious signs of the disease in both women. Their cancers, however, went undiagnosed for years. Cervical cancer can be treated if it is caught early. The Pap smears in both cases were sent to Chem-Bio and evaluated by the same technician.

E. Michael McCann, the district attorney of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, had filed criminal charges last April against the laboratory "because the evidence clearly shows that this case ... involves a high degree of recklessness." Doctors Face Indictments, Professional Scrutiny, TRIAL, July 1995, at 113.)

The lab technician who analyzed the slides and the physician who supervised the laboratory were not charged in the criminal complaint. They did agree, however, to certain restrictions on their work. (Proposed Settlement of Homicide Charges Reached by Chem-Bio, Wall St. J., Nov. 30, 1995, at B3.)