GE CT Scanner Risks

The Food and Drug Administration, state medical boards, departments of public health and the New York Times have all conducted investigations into some patients receiving radiation overdoses from CT scanners manufactured by GE Healthcare. These investigations are still underway but each group is finding the GE CT scanner problems trace back to multiple errors in the manufacture, programming and operation of this equipment. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of patients receiving brain perfusion scans to detect blood flow to the brain after a suspected stroke have received radiation overdoses from this equipment and are at risk for brain damage, cancer and other serious health problems. If you or a close family member is experiencing memory problems, headaches, confusion, an odd pattern of hair loss, and other radiation overdose symptoms after a brain perfusion scan, the GE CT radiation lawyers at Anapol Schwartz may be able to help.

Multiple GE CT Scanner Problems Endangering the Health of Patients

Thus far, there are hundreds of confirmed cases of radiation overdoses from GE CT scanners in some California hospitals, dozens more trace to a hospital in Huntsville, AL and investigators believe they will uncover many more over the course of their investigations. They are finding that problems involving this imaging equipment are manifold and involve:

• Programming
  The radiation overdoses at one California hospital trace in part to the programming of this imaging equipment, which caused it to deliver many times the amount of radiation necessary to scan patients' brains.
• Training
  Staffers at another California hospital said GE representatives provided multiple training seminars on the correct operation of this imaging equipment, but never mentioned the risks of using an automatic feature ill suited for brain perfusion scans.
• Product design
  One GE CT scanner feature that supposedly lowers the dosage of radiation actually raises it, causing the device to deliver much more radiation than necessary. Safety experts say better product design would have protected patients from overdoses by alerting operators or shutting down when radiation reached dangerous levels.
• Software
  Poorly written software to operate the machine's automatic feature instructs the device to deliver far more radiation than necessary to perform a brain perfusion scan.
• Operator error
  GE CT scanner operators in one Alabama hospital routinely delivered higher doses of radiation when performing brain perfusion scans in order to get clearer images of the patient's brain and blood flow. Operators at a hospital in California deliberately delivered radiation overdoses to receive images of blood flow more quickly.

A Pattern of Finger-Pointing and Deflection

GE Healthcare claims its CT scanners are operating correctly and the blame lies with the hospitals and operators. Hospital administrators and computed tomography technicians say that GE's equipment has a poor design, incorrect calibration and no built-in safety measures to prevent radiation overdoses. The finger-pointing dismays the Philadelphia product defect lawyers at Anapol Schwartz and rightfully infuriates radiation overdose victims and their families. If you live in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, or New Jersey, and would like to speak with an experienced GE CT radiation overdose attorney, call us today at 1-866-735-2792 to schedule a free consultation.

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