nuclear-news

Trinidad’s scandal of over-radiated cancer patients

The radiation incident at BLCTC has been shrouded in secrecy from the outset

Over-radiated cancer patients at Lara Centre… Trinidad Express, By Camini Marajh Head Investigative Desk Story  Apr 14, 2012  Ninety-one or 40.8 per cent of the 223 cancer patients over-radiated by the Brian Lara Cancer Treatment Centre (BLCTC) are dead.
Continuing Sunday Express investigations into the radiation over-exposure incident at the private facility which is owned by powerful business interests reveal that the board and management of BLCTC failed internationally accepted guidelines on several critical
fronts, specifically:
1. Its decision to ignore a PAHO (Pan American World Health
Organization) issued TLD (thermoluminescent dosimeters) warning of a
suspected 14 per cent overdose in April 2009. The privately owned
Medcorp facility ignored strict, internationally accepted, safety
standards to resolve the dose discrepancy identified in the mailed TLD
audit.
2. Its decision to bury and then deny (when the report was made
public) the June 2010 finding of a US-certified senior medical
physicist of a calibration error ranging from four to 20 per cent of a
linear accelerator used for clinical radiotherapy.
3. Its decision to continue treating cancer patients during and after
the Damian Rudder discovery of a radiation overdose and
4. Its failure to immediately notify the licensing authority, the
Ministry of Health, and affected patients and their families of the
potential threat of radiation injury to their long-term health and
well-being.
The radiation incident at BLCTC has been shrouded in secrecy from the
outset. Neither the State nor the centre involved has given a full
account about what happened or the severity of the radiation injuries
suffered by patients or even the number of patients who have since
died. Sources with knowledge of the situation told the Sunday Express
that 91 of the affected 223 patients have died in the period that
ended January 23, 2012, the date that the IAEA mission arrived in
Trinidad…… The BLCTC has denied all liability and refused to pay
costs for follow up medical care needed by the overdosed patients.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/91_of_223_dead-147467685.html

April 16, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, OCEANIA, secrets,lies and civil liberties