Radiotherapy: The World Health Organization steps in after
countless errors Radiotherapy is given to around 40 per cent of
the 10 million people worldwide who are newly diagnosed with
cancer every year. But it’s such a dangerous therapy – and one
that seems to create more than its fair share of errors – that
the World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped in. Its World
Alliance for Patient Safety wants to set up a series of safer
treatment protocols that learn from the mistakes of the past.
The most common is a radiation overdose, such as the one
discovered by radiologists at the North Staffordshire Royal
Infirmary. Around one thousand cancer patients had received
overdoses for 10 years before technicians realised how to work
the computers properly. In the non-litigious UK, there have been
around 150 negligence claims for radiation damage in the past 30
years. (Source: British Medical Journal, 2007; 334: 272).E-news
broadcast 15 February 2007 No.334