Re: Fluoro times (Second try)

["Gary Isenhower" <garyi@bcm.tmc.edu>]

The 1st MD had a case he was unable to handle.  After almost 5 hours of
trying, he called in a specialist who did it in less than 1 hour.  Thats why
the patient got the whopping dose.  5.5 hours of cine and fluoro that could
have been done in less than 1 hour will most likely produce a big lawsuit.
Anybody doing fluoro ought to know it.

My opinion only!
Gary Isenhower
garyi@bcm.tmc.edu

----- Original Message -----
From: "JOHN JACOBUS" <JENDAY1@email.msn.com>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 12:19 PM
Subject: FW: Fluoro times (Second try)


> I am resending this as the "From" bug cut it off too soon.  Sorry for the
> reposting. -- John
>
> John Jacobus, MS
> Health Physicist
> National Institutes of Health
> Radiation Safety Branch, Building 21
> 21 Wilson Drive, MSC 6780
> Bethesda, MD  20892-6780
> Phone: 301-496-5774      Fax: 301-496-3544
> jjacobus@ors.od.nih.gov (W)
> jenday1@email.msn.com (H)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Karam, Andrew [mailto:Andrew_Karam@urmc.rochester.edu]
> Sent: May 23, 2000 4:05 PM
> To: 'AMRSO'
> Subject: AMRSO: Fluoro times
>
>
> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 22, 2000
>
> Heart patient wins $1 million in suit against hospital, doctor
>
> Monday, May 22, 2000
>
> By Ann Belser, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
>
> When Robert Nicklow went in for an angioplasty in 1996 he didn't know one
> of the side effects could be a radiation burn.
>
> The chances of such burns were so low that cardiologists didn't even warn
> him about the radiation they would use to see into the heart with X-rays
> during the procedure.
>
> But Nicklow's procedure was long and complex. As a result, after two
> angioplasty procedures, he developed a hole in his back from the amount of
> radiation used.
>
> On Friday, a jury awarded Nicklow, 61, of Leisenring, Fayette County, $1
> million, with 90 percent to come from his doctor, Bassam Kharma, and the
> other 10 percent from the Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Bloomfield
where
> Nicklow had the procedures.
>
> The verdict came after a two-week trial in front of Allegheny County
Common
>  Pleas Judge Paul F. Lutty.
>
> All sides in the lawsuit agreed that Nicklow had a complex angioplasty.
>
> The procedure is done by running a tube from the groin to the arteries in
> the heart. The cardiologist uses the X-rays to determine where that tube
is
> in the heart.
>
> Nicklow's first procedure, on Oct. 1, 1996, lasted 51/2 hours. Four hours
> into it, Kharma called in another doctor who helped complete the
> angioplasty.
>
> Within a month of that angioplasty, Nicklow had developed a burn on his
> back like a sunburn, which, by January 1997, developed into a rash.
>
> On Feb. 24, 1997, he had another angioplasty. That time, the procedure
> lasted 31/2 hours, his attorney, Alan Perer, said. Later, the rash on
> Nicklow's back developed into an open hole that a dermatologist diagnosed
as
> a radiation burn, Perer said.
>
> xFrom both procedures, Perer said, Nicklow had been exposed to radiation
> that was equivalent to 50,000 chest X-rays.
>
> Perer said the Food and Drug Administration had sent out a warning in 1994
> about the dangers of radiation burns during long angioplasty procedures.
>
> David Johnson, the attorney for West Penn, said the hole in Nicklow's back
> developed after a biopsy of the rash was taken and may have been the
result
> of that procedure.
>
> Perer presented testimony from two nuclear physicists and one cardiologist
> who said the prolonged exposure to the radiation from the X-rays not only
> caused the radiation burn but increased his risk of cancer.
>
> Kharma's attorney, Lynn Bell, called the $1 million verdict unfair and
said
>  the doctor would appeal.
>
> "What happened was he had a very technically difficult procedure. It took
> longer than anticipated and had a superb outcome from the cardiac
> perspective," Bell said.
>
> She said that Nicklow already had a high chance of contracting cancer
> before anything was done to his heart.
>
> "He was a two- to three-pack-a-day smoker," she said. "He already had a
> substantial risk of developing cancer. He didn't quit smoking. He did
> nothing to decrease his own risk."
>
> Johnson said the hospital would also appeal the verdict.
>
> Perer said Nicklow, who had worked as a steel worker and a laborer, hasn't
> worked for years because of his heart problems. He said if Nicklow does
> receive the money from the verdict he has a modest goal: His wife, Rose
> Nicklow, has
> been sick with cancer, Perer said, and Robert Nicklow wants to move her
out
> of
> their trailer and into a small house he hopes to buy for her.
>
>
>
>
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