I have taken a quick listen to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee field hearing in Philadelphia on Monday (you can find the mp3 files here, along with witness statements). Nothing came out that was not already in the NRC report. However, Sen. Specter indicated that a hearing of the full committee in Washington will be [...]
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Sen. Arlen Specter’s field hearing on the Philadelphia VA mess is set to begin today. It will be interesting to see if any new details will come out. Apparently, Dr. Kao will be answering questions at the hearing, so at least we will hear his side of the story. Before the spinning starts, though, we [...] It’s always nice when one of your favorite bloggers writes about one of your favorite subjects. PalMD has been writing a series of blog posts discussing the basics of the biology and treatment of cancer. His latest post is an overview of radiation therapy. As usual, he does a good job explaining difficult concepts in [...] The Philadelphia VA hospital story has really taken off. Usually when there is a high profile radiation therapy accident, like with the unfortunate Lisa Norris, the interest dies off fairly quickly. However, in this case, the interest seems to be just beginning to ramp up. A story that had been brewing for months has finally broken into the mainstream media; the New York Times reports on a series of botched procedures at a V.A. hospital in Philadelphia. While regulatory agencies had some clue that things were awry, the clinic was allowed to continue operating on patients for six years before [...] We’re going back to the 80′s with this biweek’s installation of one star Mondays. It’s that favorite of Karaoke bars and American Idol semi-finalists: Total Eclipse of the Heart. This is one of those songs, like All Along the Watchtower, in which the cover surpasses the original. However, in this case, the song is so [...] Nothing is finer in life than sitting in your recliner, watching sports on TV and eating fried, lard encrusted food. Surprisingly, it turns out that it may have some serious health consequences. No, I’m not talking about the obesity epidemic. I’m talking about radioactive La-Z-Boys. In 1998, an Indiana company unknowingly used metal contaminated with [...] The last post in this series showed how a linear accelerator is used to create a beam of radiation. Now we will talk about how we can conform the beam to the shape of the tumor we are trying to treat while blocking the beam from irradiating normal tissue. Once the beam is generated, it [...] One year ago today, I was waiting anxiously to take my oral exam to become board certified by the American Board of Radiology in radiation therapy physics. By the end of my exam, I was already making plans to return to Louisville, KY to retake them next year. Somehow, against all odds, I passed. It [...] I have been closely following the sad saga of Daniel Hauser, the Minnesota teen who ran away with his mother rather than continue treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Fortunately, he and his mother have returned to Minnesota, hopefully to continue his treatment. There has been a lot of debate about the ethics of a court forcing [...] |
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