www.guardian.co.uk...
A teenager who was repeatedly given a potentially fatal overdose of radiation at a leading cancer unit spoke yesterday of her fears after the hospital
where she was given the treatment said the mistake was the result of human error.
Lisa Norris, 15, was undergoing radiation therapy for a brain tumour at Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow, when she was given the potentially deadly
doses 17 times. Doctors have told her they do not know what the long-term effects on her health will be. "I could be brain damaged, I could be
paralysed. We don't know what's in the future. I could not be here," she said yesterday.
Oh man. I feel so bad for this girl. She put her trust in medical professionals and they let her down in a big way. This will probably kill her
before too long, I would imagine. The soft organs can't take that kind of punishment, can they?
I can't imagine the people responsible feel good about it, but that doesn't change the fact that a young girl is suffering because of their
carelessness. I wouldn't even know where to begin assigning blame, because presumably it was a cascading series of failures.
Did they give her the complete dose every day? No tech in his right mind would do so without questioning the numbers, right? The dose was probably
10x normal, and nobody noticed before the course was done?
What measures can be put in place to ensure this doesn't happen? Aren't their safeguards in place already, and while we're on the subject, why
weren't they effective at stopping this before it went so far?
A lot of people distrust and even fear the medical establishment, and with stories like this in the news every week it's not hard to see why. That
fear can be deadly in and of itself, if it deters people from seeking treatment for urgent conditions.
[edit on 9-2-2006 by WyrdeOne]
