A Lifesaving Tool Turned Deadly

In Sunday's NY Times cover story, "Radiation Offers Powerful New Cures, and Ways to Do Harm," Walt Bogdanich reports on the risk of patients being accidentally injured by overdoses of therapeutic radiation. Computer glitches and inadequate oversight lead to mistakes that cause patients serious harm, including death. How are you supposed to respond to such news reports in the context of Healthy Survivorship?

In the NYTimes article, the last sentence of the 9th paragraph says that "Without a doubt, radiation saves countless lives, and serious accidents are rare."

Unfortunately for patients and the public, this line can easily get lost in the text and photographs depicting gory details of one of the rare patients who suffered horribly before dying of treatment-induced injuries. It can get lost in the reported numbers of patients who are undertreated or overtreated in various hospitals, and in the vignettes about doctors and hospitals trying to keep errors secret.  

Without question this is an upsetting article for anyone to read, but especially for patients who need radiation therapy. As a Healthy Survivor, a first step is to maintain a healthy perspective by repeating as often as necessary: "Most patients are helped, not harmed. I am far more likely to be helped than harmed."

Tomorrow I will offer a list of mantras for dealing with upsetting stories like this in the media.

Comments

[General Health]

Hmmmm...its interesting Without a doubt, radiation saves countless lives, and serious accidents are rare."