Doctor reflects on treating Tokaimura nuclear-accident victim

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Doctor reflects on treating Tokaimura nuclear-accident victim

TOKYO, Jan. 24 (Kyodo) - The chief physician who treated the first 
person in Japan to die from a nuclear power-related accident said 
Monday that support from fellow doctors as well as the patient's 
family helped his team through the difficult case. 

Kazuhiko Maekawa, a professor at the University of Tokyo Hospital, 
also said the kind of treatment given to Hisashi Ouchi, who died last 
month as a result of massive exposure to radiation in the Sept. 30 
nuclear accident in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, was completely new 
to him. 

''It was the first time I experienced such a case in my 30-plus years 
as a doctor,'' Maekawa, 58, told Kyodo News. 

''Almost every day, we came across situations that were not covered 
in medical textbooks, and there were tough moments in continuing 
treatment without any sign of a way out,'' he added. 

Ouchi, who died of multiple organ failure Dec. 21 at age 35, was 
exposed to an estimated 17 sieverts of radiation when he and a fellow 
worker poured too much uranium into a processing tank at a nuclear 
fuel processing plant run by JCO Co., triggering a self-sustaining 
nuclear fission reaction. 

The level of radiation Ouchi was exposed to is said to be almost the 
same as at the blast centers in the 1945 nuclear bombings of 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki and about 17,000 times the maximum annual 
permissible exposure in Japan. 

Maekawa said he was encouraged by the support he and his team of 
doctors received over nearly three months of attempts to improve 
Ouchi's condition. 

''We were able to gain technical cooperation from expert doctors from 
various regions as well as have medicine sent to us directly from 
abroad. The government also backed us up, saying we should provide as 
much treatment as possible,'' he said. 

The patient's family was also a source of support for Maekawa's team, 
which began treating Ouchi after he was transferred to the University 
of Tokyo Hospital on Oct. 2 -- two days after the accident. 

''The family's attitude was also very helpful. Even when the patient 
fell into critical condition, they never gave up hope and I think 
that showed how much the family wanted Mr. Ouchi to keep living. 
There were many things I learned from them,'' the doctor said.