Radiation overdoses prompt class-action suit against Cedars-Sinai, GE Healthcare

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and GE Healthcare have been named as defendants in a class-action suit representing patients who may have received radiation overdoses during CT brain perfusion scans at the California hospital.

The suit charges Cedars-Sinai and GE with medical malpractice, strict product liability, negligence, breach of express warranty, and breach of implied warranty. Plaintiff's attorneys suggest that the problem may be partly due to process problems at the hospital, but also due to issues with the manufacturing of the machine involved.

The suit was filed in the name of Trevor Rees, who received two CT scans at the hospital in December 2008 for stroke. The patients involved allegedly received up to eight times the standard radiation dose for CT brain perfusion scans during the period between February 2008 to August 2009. A total of 206 patients were allegedly affected by the problem, which may have been caused by changes made to the scanner's preprogrammed settings.

The matter first came to public attention a few weeks ago, when the FDA announced that it was investigating a possible radiation overdose case at an unnamed hospital. Not long after, Cedars-Sinai admitted that it had been targeted by the FDA investigation.

To learn more about the case:
- read this press release [1]

Related Articles:

Hundreds of radiation overdoses went undetected for 18 months [2]  
Some patients not told of radiation overdose [2] 
FDA: Patients overexposed to radiation during perfusion CT imaging [3]
Study: Radiation exposure from medical scans up dramatically [4]
Trend: Huge growth in use of CT scans troubles observers [5]