Oncologist Defends His Work at a V.A. Hospital

[Adsos Letter]

Source: NY Times
WALT BOGDANICH

PHILADELPHIA — The radiation oncologist whom regulators accuse of mishandling scores of radioactive seed implants at the Philadelphia veterans’ hospital told a Congressional panel on Monday that while he “could have done better” with some implants, his patients over all received effective treatment for their prostate cancer.

“I did not believe our procedures were botched,” said the physician, Dr. Gary D. Kao, who no longer treats patients at the veterans’ hospital or its affiliated hospital run by the University of Pennsylvania. “I’ve always acted in the best interest of the patients.”

Speaking publicly for the first time, Dr. Kao said at the hearing at the Veterans Affairs hospital here that he was not a “rogue physician” and that his academic credentials — he has a Ph.D. to go with his medical degree — and an absence of malpractice lawsuits underscored that point. He said he was voluntarily appearing before the committee, led by Senator Arlen Specter, Democrat of Pennsylvania, to “correct some very serious false allegations in recent publications about me, most notably The New York Times.”

The Times reported last week that investigators for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and V.A. officials had identified Dr. Kao as the doctor who did all but a handful of what they said were 92 substandard seed implants out of 116 cases over more than six years. In some cases, most of the tiny metal seeds ended up in other organs.

An N.R.C. consultant reviewed about a quarter of the flawed implants and concluded that “erratic seed placement caused a number of cases to have elevated doses to the rectum, bladder or perineum.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/health/30veterans.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

[FreakinDJ]

1. Insurance Co don't want men treaded for prostate cancer.

They even produced their own bias study saying it is better to let it go untreated. Can you imagine the uproar if they said it was better to let breast cancer go untreated.