Attorneys for Magee-Womens Hospital have asked a Common Pleas judge to throw out a lawsuit filed last month by two local women who say the hospital endangered them and thousands of others by falsely making it appear that a physician had reviewed their Pap smear reports.

In a preliminary objection and supporting brief filed yesterday, Magee's attorneys say the lawsuit has no basis because the women were not harmed, nor did they show the reports were improperly reviewed.

"They do not even allege that they have some serious medical condition that went undetected because a physician's signature appeared on one of their Pap smear reports instead of that of a cytotechnologist," the filing states.

Joseph Podraza, of Philadelphia, attorney for Christine Walter, 58, of Sewickley, and Sharon King, 41, of West Deer, said the filing was expected. He described the hospital's objections as "a self-serving spin on the case that doesn't have any resemblance to what the case is about."

The women's lawsuit, and a second lawsuit filed the same week by Dr. Susan A. Silver, a former Magee pathologist, say Magee wrongly affixed electronic signatures of physicians to Pap smear reports they had not reviewed.

While technicians known as cytotechnologists commonly check the reports, then forward only those that appear abnormal to a physician, the lawsuits say Magee's practice lacked quality controls, endangering women's lives to boost profits and market share. Magee has strongly denied the charge.

While yesterday's court filing applies only to the class action lawsuit filed by Walter and King, hospital attorney William Pietragallo said "it is very possible" they also will submit objections to Silver's complaint by Feb. 1.

After the lawsuits were filed three weeks ago, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asked the state health department to investigate.

The following week, the state Department of Health sent a team to Magee to review records and procedures. The results of that inspection have not been released.

"We're still deciding if we need to do more investigating, whether that be going back on site or reviewing records or interviewing more people," said health department spokesman Richard McGarvey yesterday.

At question is how the Magee laboratory handled results of thousands of Pap smears, done to detect early gynecologic cancers. After Walter and King learned their Pap smears had not been reviewed by a doctor, they were retested.

Their lawsuit asks the court to order that women who had Pap smears reviewed at Magee between 1995 and 2001 be notified that a physician might not have reviewed their test results.

Silver's lawsuit claims the hospital falsified reports and allowed systemwide errors to occur that put patients' lives in danger. She further states the hospital retaliated against her for pointing out the allegedly unsafe practice.

Magee officials have denied wrongdoing and cite inspection reports by the College of American Pathologists in October 2001 and April 2002 which said the Magee laboratory met its standards.

"Magee-Womens Hospital Main Laboratory is one of a select group of laboratories that has been evaluated and found to be in compliance with the CAP accreditation standards -- rigorous laboratory standards designed to ensure quality patient care," wrote Dr. Ronald B. Lepoff, chairman of CAP's Commission on Laboratory Accreditation, in May 2002.

Last week, at Magee's request, CAP reiterated the hospital laboratory's good standing, noting that it had been continuously accredited since November 1972.