Radiation overdose

In what I can only describe as a stern reminder of the terribly important need to hold up all safety measures and double checks in radiation treatments, the New York Times published an article describing the horrifying cases of cancer patients inadvertently overdosed with radiation, one for tongue cancer and one for breast cancer.

The patient with tongue cancer, according to the article, wanted his story about radiation toxicity because of a computing error in the linear accelerator to be widely told so that others could learn from him. In fact, his obituary sent chills down my spine, when it correctly and unapologetically noted that he died of "cancer...exacerbated by fatal medical error".

The obituary goes on to describe his terrible and prolonged suffering: "Scott was diagnosed with a very rare, tiny cancer...A relatively minor medical procedure was horribly botched with defective radiation equipment and malfunctioning hospital personnel. He received massive fatal doses of unshielded radiation. He was not expected to live beyond a few weeks, but he survived for two terrible years of extreme disability."

Although this may sound (at the risk of sounding judgmental myself) angry, I encourage you to read the rest of the New York Times article about how he lived after this terrible error was disclosed to him. He developed a long relationship with his radiation oncologist and seemed to battle his terrible illness with grace and impressive strength, but not seemingly bitterness. These are both cases I will never forget.