R.C., the manager of the clinical and pathology laboratory, received several surgical specimens taken from a 26-year-old female patient with a 4-week history of nonspecific pelvic pain. The specimens included several small containers of pink-tinged cloudy fluid labeled pelvic lavage (washing)for cytology, which R.C. took to the cytology laboratory to be made into slides and checked microscopically for abnormal cells. R.C. also received a tissue specimen labeled uterine myoma, a wedge biopsy of right ovarian neoplasm, and four jars each labeled pelvic lymph nodes. She took all of the tissue specimens to the pathology laboratory for gross and microscopic evaluation. A test tube half-filled with a cloudy gel and a cotton-tipped applicator labeled swab of pelvic fluid for culture and sensitivity and Gram stain was taken to the microbiology laboratory to be streaked on a culture plate and incubated to look for growth. Any organisms that grew out would be Gram-stained and tested for sensitivity to antibiotics that might be used in treatment.

The laboratory form was accompanied by a surgeon's note stating that the patient's preoperative diagnosis was cervical dysplasia with atypical cells and a positive urine leukocyte esterase, indicating a urinary tract infection. R.C. placed a copy of the laboratory forms and surgeon's note on the desk of the pathologist who was involved in carcinogenesis (cancer) research.

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