Troubles at VA beyond 1 doctor

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

Is Gary Kao a renegade physician, or a sacrificial lamb - or maybe just a doctor who was allowed to get in over his head?

Kao is the only person whom officials have identified in the unfolding scandal over substandard radioactive seed implants at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center.

As the radiation oncologist who did most of the implants, Kao played a central role. But a huge cast of actors supported and directed him - week after week, for six years - until the VA suspended the program a year ago.

Those actors included a medical physicist with little experience in developing implant treatment plans, a radiation-safety committee that allowed crucial radiation-dosage calculations to go undone, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors who let Kao revise two patients' treatment plans to avoid reporting medical errors, according to the Veterans Affairs investigation report.

Socialized medicine in action. This could be the future of all medicine.