Multiple medical malpractice lawsuits have been recently filed against the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Dr. Gary Kao and the University of Pennsylvania by Iraq war veterans that claim these hospitals and doctors provided botched radiation therapy.
The malpractice suits were filed in federal court by Richard Mitchell, James Armstrong, John Berry, Barry Lackro and Donald Pepper, who claim that Dr. Kao and his "rogue" cancer unit provided "substandard medical care while attempting to treat their cancer through a procedure known as brachytherapy. This list of men is only five of nearly 98 veterans that investigators believe received botched radiation treatments from Dr. Kao and his staff.
According to recent news report on the case, Brachytherapy involves radioactive metal "seeds" which are placed in a pattern inside the prostate with needles. Once inside, the medal seeds create a cloud of radiation that conforms to the prostate, ultimately attacking and containing cancerous cells.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) began investigating Dr. Kao's department last year and found that out of 114 patients treated with the cancer therapy at the hospital, only 16 of the procedures were performed correctly. Investigators uncovered that a number of patients received radiation doses that were too weak or cases that involved the insertion of metal seeds into the wrong locations, such as the bladder or rectum. According to a final report, "the unit continued to do surgeries for a year, even after a device that measured the radiation in patients broke down," ultimately giving Dr. Kao's team no way of checking the quality or accuracy of their work.
In May 2010, the NRC fined the VA hospital $227,500 for radiology malpractice.
This new wave of medical malpractice lawsuits against the Philadelphia VA Medical Center looks to gain a combined total of $71 million in compensatory damages.
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