LA hospital exposed patients to high radiation (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles)

LA hospital exposed patients to high radiation

Saturday, October 10, 2009

(10-10) 07:07 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) --

California public health officials are investigating medical errors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in which 206 patients were exposed to high doses of radiation during CT brain scans.

The report came as the FDA issued an alert to hospitals nationwide, warning them to review their safety procedures for CT scans. But the alert did not specifically name Cedars-Sinai.

"The magnitude of these overdoses and their impact on the affected patients were significant," the FDA said, warning that undetected overdoses put "patients at increased risk for long-term radiation effects."

Cedar-Sinai hospital officials said Friday that the patients got eight times the regular dose of radiation during CT scans, which are used to diagnose strokes.

snip...
Officials determined the machine had been set to a higher level since February 2008. The problem went undetected for 18 months and other patients also suffered temporary hair loss and skin-reddening.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/09/national/a195037D34.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0TYCv2jNr

other medical facilities instituted the same continuous improvement practices industry has been developing.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen)

In this case, a simple check list would have required that someone check and record the machine setting every time.

they have 0 quality control in any of their facilities.they have a small "production" dept that violates every osha rule in the book. it`s really appalling that diseases and other conditions are allowed to fester causing illnesses among the clients and the staff.

worse..the facility she works for is one of the best in this part of the state.

there is no excuse by anyone in charge of that dept. to let this error go on for that long. in the real world people would be fired.

that can't be reduced to checklists. that's true to some degree, but.....

Checklists Lower Hospital ICU Infection Rates

http://charlottesville.injuryboard.com/medical-malpractice/checklists-lower-hospital-icu-infection-rates.aspx?googleid=257766

How hard can it be to turn the freaking machine on the proper settings and exposure time?

:wtf: