When Patients Overdose on Radiation at Cedars-Sinai, Who’s at Fault?
When it comes to the care hospitals provide, most of us share a pretty simple philosophy: we don’t like going but we assume that we’ll leave feeling better . We collectively trust doctors, nurses, technicians, drug companies, and insurance providers in exchange for results and peace of mind. Naturally, there are some fatal conditions that are beyond the control of doctors and this is the unspoken risk we all face long before we walk through the hospital doors. Rarely, the unthinkable happens; due to the care provided at the hospital patients are exposed to something that has worsened their health and, in some cases, even caused death.
For over two hundred-fifty patients at Cedars-Sinai, the worst-case scenario has happened. Late last year, officials discovered that patients who went in to the renowned hospital to have CT brain scans used to diagnose strokes, were exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation. For a procedure so routine, the finding is quite alarming. Roughly eighty of the patients who had been administered the overdose of radiation experienced temporary hair loss. Overdoses of radiation have also been known to cause eye problems, skin irritation and flaky scalp.
Many lawsuits around the country have been filed against hospitals in cases of CT brain scan and radiation overdoses. In December 2009, a lawsuit was filed in Huntsville, Alabama against GE Healthcare, the manufacturer of CT equipment, citing radiation overdose during routine CT scans administered at the Huntsville Hospital. Other suits have targeted hospitals for improper use of the scanning equipment claiming that the hospital staff was under trained on the CT scanners. Ultimately, judges and juries will decide who or what is truly at fault for the radiation overdoses. The legal and medical communities will, hopefully, work together to save future patients from exiting the hospital with more problems than they walked in with.
