Federal investigators cited the hospital for misplacing radioactive seeds in 97 of 116 procedures for patients with prostate cancer from 2002-2008, according to the report. Normally, NRC fines for radiation errors do not exceed several thousand dollars, but this case stood out because of the magnitude of the errors, commission officials told the Times.
The commission’s largest fine against a medical provider was $280,000 15 years ago; the fine against the V.A. is the second-largest in its history, according to the Times, which first reported the quality problems at the Philadelphia hospital in June 2009.
Read The New York Times‘ story on the Philadelphia V.A. hospital fine and radiation errors.
