Cedars-Sinai Overdoses at Least 206 CT Scan Patients With Radiation
Most Pennsylvanians have heard the news of a hospital in Los Angeles, California that accidentally exposed CT scans patients to dangerous levels of radiation. Officials believe that patients received up to 8 times the prescribed dosage at the Cedars-Sinai hospital.
The troubling revelation has many experts proclaiming that there is too much reliance on medical machinery in the health industry and that this is a growing problem of modern technology.
Chief medical officer for Siemens, a manufacturer of CT scanners, said, “It’s in your face on the screen,” when describing the radiation levels during a CT scan. Investigators are trying to figure out why no one noticed the problem for 18 months. Director of the Center for Radiological Research said, “It’s pretty mystifying to me.”
The state Department of Public Health and the FDA are investigating while Cedars-Sinai claims that the overdoses happened as a result of the hospital reconfiguring a scanner in order to improve physicians’ capability to see blood flow in the brain. Cedars-Sinai released a statement that said they have “added double-checks to our process whenever a protocol is changed.”
Today, over 70 million scans are performed and issues like overdose raise big concerns for patients. Cedars-Sinai should have been aware of the overdoses as soon as they occurred. There are also supposed to be fail-safes in place when the machines are calibrated.
If you or someone you love feel that you have been treated wrongly by a medical doctor, hospital, or someone in the medical field, please contact the Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers at Cherry, Fieger, & Marciano. Their personal injury lawyers have handled several medical malpractice cases and can look at the basic information and determine whether or not you have grounds to file a claim against a doctor, medical team, pharmacist, or hospital for negligence. Call Cherry, Fieger, & Marciano today at 888-684-7192 for a free consultation.
Source article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cedars-sinai14-2009oct14,0,4844125,full.story
