A former U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) scientist says that he was fired for raising concerns about the safety of using CT scans for colon cancer screening. Now the FDA is taking him a bit more seriously after several hospitals across the nation reported hundreds of acute radiation overdoses.
That's what Dr. Julian Nicholas, a former FDA scientist, is likely thinking. He claims that he was terminated after he tried to warn his FDA superiors that approving CT scan medical devices to replace traditional colonoscopy procedures would expose colon cancer screening patients to excessive amounts of radiation. His superiors ignored his concerns and then terminated his employment in September 2009.
Then in February 2010, over 300 patients reported receiving radiation overdoses. Although these reports concerning brain perfusion CT scans made by GE Healthcare and Toshiba, the implication was the same – too much unnecessary radiation that may have been able to be prevented. The FDA is now reviewing radiation levels received by regular CT scans which millions of Americans undergo every year.
The FDA is seeking to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from three types of medical imaging procedures – computed tomography (CT), nuclear medicine studies and fluoroscopy (a “continuous” x-ray procedure) – which may deliver hundreds of times the amount of radiation than common radiographic procedures such as standard X-rays, dental X-rays and mammography.
The FDA's initiative comes on the heels of a $7.5 million settlement in a medical malpractice radiation overdose lawsuit brought by the family of a woman who received 50% more radiation than she should have on over 15 occasions – which led to her death.
If you've been injured by a radiation overdose, contact an experienced radiation overdose attorney to assess your situation, determine the types of damages for which you may be entitled and explain the process and the time period in which you must file a lawsuit (known as the statute of limitations) in order to be compensated for your injuries.