Re: Loma Linda Hospital accusations

["Otto G. Raabe" <ograabe@ucdavis.edu>]

   Veterans Hospital at Center of Radiation Controversy (Los Angeles)
   
   By Eric Lichtblau and Tom Gorman
   (c) 1997, Los Angeles Times
       LOS ANGELES   A bitter feud, complete with charges of a cover-up,
   has erupted at a Southern California veterans hospital over
   allegations that dozens of patients taking part in research there have
   been exposed to risky dosages of radiation without their knowledge.
       The controversy has pitted the top radiation safety officer at the
   Veterans Administration medical center in Loma Linda against a cadre
   of doctors with a long list of research projects to their credit, who
   say they have engaged in no ethical or medical improprieties.
       The central allegation: that research participants over the last
   several years have been exposed to multiple rounds of radiation
   testing of little or no medical benefit to them and were not
   informed about the potential risks.
       The two sides have agreed on little in the dispute, splitting over
   such basic issues as how many patients have been involved in the
   research, what dosages of radiation they were exposed to or who at the
   hospital had authority to review the issue. They even disagree over
   what radiation levels are deemed acceptable under federal standards.
       Among those raising the red flags are a handful of specialists at
   the hospital.
       A renowned radiologist is worried that radiation testing on the
   eyes could cause cataracts. Another doctor refused to do kidney
   research on a handful of patients slated for research because of their
   frail conditions. And a third physician said she quit the project
   because she ``could not in good conscience'' ask patients to submit to
   the risks of radiation exposure.
       Fueling the imbroglio is Moussa Raiszadeh, a Ph.D. in
   radiopharmaceutical science and unwavering whistle-blower on matters
   of radiation safety.
       His complaints have sparked an inquiry from the VA Inspector
   General's office in Washington, which said this week that it will send
   investigators to Loma Linda to explore the research allegations and
   other issues.
       Raiszadeh has butted heads before with higher-ups during his
   seven-year tenure as the hospital's radiation safety officer. And when
   his bosses retaliated by stripping his office of support staff,
   federal investigators ordered the hospital to pay him for creating a
   ``hostile work environment.''
       Raiszadeh says he was further emboldened to play hard ball because
   a federal review of the hospital in 1992 faulted the facility   and
   his own office for radiation safety shortcomings.
       So when Raiszadeh discovered last year that four radiation research
   studies involving patients were being conducted in his own building
   without his knowledge and approval, he pounced.
       He reviewed the research protocols that outlined the study
   procedures. He examined the patient consent forms. And focusing on one
   particular study, he bluntly told administrators in a memo that the
   patients ``did not have a clue'' what was being done to them.
       In short order, the four projects two involving work on kidneys,
   another on tear ducts and a fourth on breast cancer were halted by
   Raiszadeh and the head of the hospital's radiation safety committee.
       In challenging the propriety of the studies, Raiszadeh found
   himself targeting two of the most prominent doctors at the facility.
   One heads the medical radiation department; the other chairs the
   hospital's human research committee.
       The incensed research teams concluded that Raiszadeh was
   misinterpreting protocols and data for procedures that were out of his
   professional expertise. He should stay the watchdog over occupational
   hazards of radiation use at the hospital.
           The hospital director agreed with the doctors, scaling back
   Raiszadeh's authority to review X-ray research. In an interview,
   Director Dean Stordahl said that on matters of radiation-testing on
   humans, he deferred to the expertise of M.D.s over a Ph.D.
       No patients have gotten ill from the research, the doctors say, and
   the VA didn't need more bad publicity, given earlier revelations that
   its hospitals and other federal institutions had conducted secret
   radiation tests on patients after World War II.
       The whole episode at the seemingly bucolic Jerry L. Pettis Memorial
   Veterans Affairs Medical Center was, in the words of one hospital
   official, the sad result of ``an unfortunate morass of
   misunderstandings.''