Magee-Womens Hospital and UPMC Health Systems yesterday fired the first round of a promised counterattack against three law firms representing plaintiffs who have accused the hospital of falsifying thousands of Pap smear tests.

The hospital filed a federal trademark infringement suit asking a judge to shut down a Web site that was set up by the firms and that Magee says is improperly using its name and spreading false information to recruit women to join a class-action suit against it.

The suit asks U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti to grant Magee a preliminary injunction against the site operated by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein of New York; Roda & Nast of Lancaster; and Sprague & Sprague of Philadelphia.

No hearing has been scheduled. Conti is on vacation the rest of this week, although the request could be heard by another judge.

"This is one of several steps we intend to take against this unwarranted and baseless lawsuit," said Magee's lawyer, William Pietragallo.

He wouldn't comment further.

The firms were involved in the filing of two suits last week in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court alleging that doctors and administrators with the hospital and the UPMC Health System falsified thousands of Pap smear reports in order to boost profits and prestige while endangering the lives of thousands of women.

One lawsuit was filed by Dr. Susan A. Silver, who was fired last year from her job as a Magee pathologist.

The other was filed by two women, Christine Walter, 58, of Sewickley, and Sharon King, 41, of West Deer, who are asking the court to notify women who had Pap smears reviewed by Magee laboratories between 1995 and 2001.

Attorneys for Walter and King issued a statement late yesterday saying that the hospital's legal action doesn't diminish the merits of the class-action lawsuit.

"It is our hope that the true purpose of Magee's lawsuit is not to try to use the legal system to keep tens of thousand of women from receiving the information they need to make critical health care decisions," the statement read.

In addition to UPMC Health System and Magee, Dr. Trevor A. Macpherson, chief of pathology at Magee, and Dr. George K. Michalopoulos, chairman of the pathology department at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, were named as defendants in the class-action suit.

The suits have been designated as a class-action, according to Pietragallo's complaint.

Irma Goertzen, president and chief executive officer of Magee, said the suits are unfounded and could frighten women away from the hospital.

In its federal complaint, Magee charged that the law firms set up a Web site Friday called mageepapsmearsuit.com that repeats the allegations of the class-action complaint and "provides disparaging, unsupported and unsubstantiated allegations made by members of the defendant law firms."

The Web site quotes Lieff Cabraser partner Paulina do Amaral saying "an unknown number of women may be at risk of serious diseases that have gone undetected because they received unreliable Pap smear tests."

Joseph R. Podraza Jr. of Sprague & Sprague is quoted saying, "We are greatly concerned that the evidence will show negative reports were issued when the tests clearly showed signs of significant abnormalities."

The Web site also provides information about the law firms and gives a toll-free number for women to contact a lawyer about joining the lawsuit.

Magee says in its federal complaint, filed under the Lanham Act governing trademark law, that the law firms are using the Magee name without permission and are confusing the public.

"Someone using the Internet and seeking to access Magee, Magee-Womens Hospital, or Magee International, may be unknowingly or unintentionally connected with or linked to the law firms' site, rather than the valid Magee Web site," the suit reads.

The suit also says the law firms' sole purpose for misrepresenting Magee's services is to damage Magee and "gain economic benefit for themselves and thousands of women whom their actions will cause to endure needless worry and apprehension."

In addition to the injunction, Magee is asking for damages to compensate for lost income created by the Web site.