"No alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility." ~Napoleon Hill
Lead headline in today's newspapers:
- 223 cancer patients in radiation mistake - PAHO ~Trinidad & Tobago Guardian Online
- CANCER SHOCKER Health Minister confirms radiation overdose on 223 patients at Brian Lara Centre ~Trinidad Express Newspapers
- 223 patients at risk ~Trinidad & Tobago's Newsd@y
I usually don't write about news or major happenings in T&T but this one has me somewhat upset. I've written before that my mom is a cancer survivor. My family knows a lot more about cancer in our country than we did 15 years ago mainly through our own experiences and involvement. I always tell people that if you don't know someone with cancer then you really don't know what it's like - the treatments, the awareness of death, the constant need to be positive. I never realised how prevalent cancer was till my mom was diagnosed with it and then it seemed as though every family had someone with cancer. Blame it on stress, or the founder effect, effects of industrialisation, bad karma (or good - depending on how you look at it)... whatever - there are a lot of people with cancer...
What they don't need is to find out "that there was a miscalibration of a linear accelerator over a period of approximately 12 months, ranging from approximately four per cent to 20 per cent of over-radiation" according to the Guardian's article. To further learn that the centre was aware of calibration discrepancies and did nothing about it just causes me even more vexation. That's just playing with peoples' lives.
Not right. Not right at all - am waiting to see what comes of this... and fully support any of those affected patients that are pursuing or would want to pursue legal action.
seeking peace today,
Ren
1 comment:
I think that part of the problem is we don't have good technicians. It was, from my understanding a calibration problem. ie line up two rulers, 1 inches, 1 cm, .. and put them where the rulers end... ie not ensuring the zero lines are aligned.
That's basically what they did, so the menu the radiation therapist was using said 1200 Gy but the machine was using 1300 Gy.
The therapist does not usually go inside the machine. They learn how it works in principle, but they don't learn how to calibrate it.
The dosimetrist just calculates the dosage based on your weight, tissue depth etc etc.
And the onocologist just tells the dosimetrist what the total dosage is.
.. in short,... pass the buck.
Happens everywhere.
Going to the Cancer Society family day tomorrow pm.
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