$7 Million Settlement for Misread Pap Smear

Susan Schwartz, representing the family of Joan O’Kane, who died of cervical cancer in 1996 because Olympia Fields Osteopathic Hospital and Medical Center misread O’Kane’s pap smear slide, obtained a $7 million settlement on behalf of O’Kane’s estate. At the time of the test, O’Kane was told that the results were normal. Unfortunately, that determination was inaccurate and three years later when O’Kane was pregnant with her second child, the cancer was finally discovered. The pregnancy resulted in a still birth and O’Kane died eight months later. A social worker involved in the case wrote a book entitled “My Mom Has Cancer,” which is dedicated to Joan.