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Director: 4 no longer with health dept. after Pap smear results never sent

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Mecklenburg County Health Director apologized Wednesday morning for the department's failure to notify nearly 200 women about abnormal Pap smear test results.

"I'm very concerned about it and I'm very sorry about it and I'm embarrassed it happened under my watch," said Mecklenburg County Health Director Dr. Marcus Plescia.

Mecklenburg County commissioners announced the failure on Tuesday during their meeting and said that they're planning an independent review of the Mecklenburg County Health Department.

The county manager, Dena Diorio, said a nurse with the Health Department who is responsible for notifying women about abnormal Pap smear results had not been doing so from May through December of last year.

Plescia said a doctor noticed a patient who should have had a follow up but didn't have one and wondered why. It led administrators to look at the nurse who was responsible for notifying patients and the nurse's supervisors.

[LINK: CDC facts on Pap smears and cervical cancer screening]

There were 110 patients who needed a repeat test within a year, and 75 who needed a referral for a colposcopy, a special test that looks for signs of disease, including cancer.

Diorio said that so far all 110 women who need a repeat test have been notified, and of the 75 who need a colposcopy, 55 have been scheduled for the procedure.

Officials are still in the process of trying to notify 20 women.

Plescia said after looking at the test results he does not believe the patients are in imminent danger.

Channel 9 spoke to one of the women on the phone, who did not want to be identified. She said she wasn't notified of abnormal test results from March of last year until she called the health department to schedule her annual exam for this year.

"It's scary, it's just stressful. They're so irresponsible. We're talking about health issues, we're talking about lives," the patient said.

Diorio told commissioners Tuesday night that the people involved in the mistake no longer work for Mecklenburg County, and they've made policy changes to make sure this doesn't happen again. Plescia said four people are no longer with the clinical division as a result of the issue.

In addition to the personnel changes, the health department has also brought in a board-certified gynecologist to do additional testing for impacted patients at no cost. Plescia also said there will be an internal audit, a national health care consultant may be hired and the department is changing ways patients are modified.

Commissioners  alsovoted to have an independent agency review what happened and if the changes that have been made since were handled properly.

Plescia said the issue will get fixed and the Health Department will provide quality service. He added that what happened is "unacceptable.

County could face possible lawsuit

Channel 9 spoke to two Charlotte attorneys who said there could be grounds for a lawsuit if any of the 185 women affected develop cervical cancer.

Mecklenburg County commissioner Pat Cotham said she doesn't know how much it's costing taxpayers for the investigation and the outside doctor brought in because of the error.

Cotham said she's worried about the women who are going through the ordeal.

"We're always concerned about any kind of lawsuits, but I'm more concerned about taking care of women," Cotham said.

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