Comments (0)L.A. Hospital Under Fire for Radiation Overdoses
October 27, 2009Los Angeles
JTA Wire Service
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of Los Angeles is facing lawsuits for giving patients heavy overdoses of radiation.
The hospital, the Jewish community’s flagship symbol and charity, administered eight times the normal dose of radiation to 206 mostly elderly patients during computed tomography brain perfusion scans used to diagnose strokes. The overdoses went undetected for 18 months.
Hospital spokesmen have acknowledged that in February 2008 staff members reset a CT scanner, overriding the manufacturer’s instructions, to raise the radiation doses and enable improved analysis of blood flow to brain tissues.
It was not until August of this year, when an overdosed patient called in to report that he was losing tufts of hair following the scan, that the hospital became aware of the mistake. After contacting the rest of the 206 patients, Cedars-Sinai learned that 40 percent of the group also suffered hair losses.
Overdosed patients face increased risk of brain tumors, which develop very slowly. National experts interviewed by the Los Angeles Times generally agreed that because the median age of the affected patients is 70, they are likely to die of other causes.
Attorneys for the affected patients have filed class action and individual suits against Cedars-Sinai.
Thomas Priselac, executive director of the medical center, which is frequently in the news for its Hollywood celebrity clientele, apologized to the affected patients and said remedial steps had been taken to prevent a future incident.
The incident is another black eye for the highly rated Jewish hospital. In an earlier foul-up, in November 2007, the newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid were given 1,000 times the intended dose of blood thinner.
The California Department of Public Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are joining in an investigation of the incident.
Philanthropist Tied to Madoff Found Dead in Pool
Jeffry Picower, a billionaire philanthropist who supported many Jewish causes and was facing increased scrutiny over his business dealings with Bernard Madoff, was found dead Sunday in a swimming pool at his mansion in Palm Beach, Fla.
In the first weeks after news of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme broke last year, Picower was portrayed as one of the biggest victims and was forced to close his foundation. But in recent months, questions have arisen over his role in recruiting investors for Madoff and whether he knew or had suspicions about Madoff’s activities.
According to the most recent tax filings before the Picower Foundation was closed, it gave away nearly $2.5 million to Jewish and Jewish-related charities in 2007.
Authorities said that Picower’s wife discovered his body and, with help from a housekeeper, pulled it from the water. Palm Beach police are investigating the death as a drowning, but have not ruled out other possibilities regarding the cause of death.
Jewish Charities Prominent on List of Top Philanthropies
More than 20 Jewish charities were featured on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Philanthropy 400, despite some serious drops in fund raising.
The annual ranking of top money-collecting nonprofits looked at charitable collections for 2008, a year in which many charities felt the pain of the recession and the early fallout from Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
The Jewish charities included on the list each took in more than $55 million, but they also saw some of the biggest individual drops in donations.
The country’s largest Jewish charity, the Jewish Federations of North America, formerly known as the United Jewish Communities, took in $398.5 million but its donations fell by 25.3 percent. The tally for the umbrella organization of the Jewish federation system consists of money that passes through from local federations to the system’s overseas arms, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel, as well as federations’ dues to the national group, money from special campaigns and an annual grant the system receives from the U.S. government.
The Jewish Communal Fund of New York, a donor-advised fund that relies heavily on patrons who work in the financial services industry, saw a 26.9 percent drop. The Jewish federations in San Francisco and New York saw 28.8 and 21.3 percent falloffs, respectively.
And Hadassah, though its officials have worked hard to avoid being hurt by the fallout from the Madoff scandal, saw its donations drop by nearly half, to just over $85 million in 2008.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest gainers on the list was the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey, which saw its contributions grow 71.4 percent to $78.8 million. MetroWest and the Birthright Israel Foundation, which took in $87.5 million in 2008, were new to the list.
The American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia dropped from last year’s list.
The top-ranking federation on the Chronicle’s list was New York’s, which despite its drop in support finished No. 111 with $177.5 million. In addition to New York and MetroWest, seven other local federations made the list: Chicago (132), San Francisco (181), Boston (197), Detroit (274), Cleveland (346), Los Angeles (349) and Baltimore (355). Communal funds in Los Angeles (241) and San Diego (317) made the list, in addition to New York’s (55).
Yeshiva University (108) and Brandeis University (239) made the list, in addition to the U.S.-based fund-raising arm of the Weizman Institute of Science (286). Several national organizations also finished in the top 400.
In all, according to the Chronicle, donations to the country’s largest charities grew by 1 percent last year. But many of the organizations listed closed their fiscal years in June or September, before the recession truly took hold.
The Chronicle expects the 1 percent increase to drop precipitously in 2009, and perhaps further in 2010.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.