+ - Radiation therapy mistakes cost lives-> 1
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jmtpi
jmtpi writes "The NYTimes has an investigative report about how powerful medical linear accelerators have contributed to at least two deaths in the New York area. Although the mistakes were largely due to human error, buggy software also played a role. Has anything improved since the Therac debacle of the 1980s? Or have things gotten worse?"
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
They know not what they do... (Score:2)
In 1973 my grandmother was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The chemotherapies we have today were unknown back then. Following surgery to remove the visible parts of the cancer she was subjected to cobalt radiation therapy to kill or suppress the rest. I was away at college during her treatment, but at my grandmother's funeral I remember my mother bitterly saying through her tears that it wasn't the cancer that killed her but the radiation "treatments".