Noteboom The Law Firm

NRC Bans Radiation Oncologist from Using Radioactive Materials

March 4, 2011 - Dr. Gary Kao was a radiation oncologist in the Philadelphia Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center. Dr. Kao has since been banned from using radioactive materials in therapy by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which became involved with the Philadelphia VA Medical Center years ago due to improperly performed radiation treatments. The VA's problem revolved around their brachytherapy procedures, which are used on veterans with prostate cancer.

The brachytherapy procedure is very common and involves inserting small, radioactive kernels into the prostate where they battle the cancer from the inside out. An NRC driven investigation discovered not only was the procedure being improperly performed, but it had been improperly performed for 6 years, between 2002 and 2008. The NRC focused a large part of their investigation on Dr. Gary Kao, who worked at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center.

The investigation's results were staggering. Dr. Kao apparently had a problem accurately placing iodine tablets into the prostate as the procedure demands. Of all the brachytherapy procedures Dr. Kao performed, the majority of the ones he performed incorrectly occurred between 2002 and 2003.

Doctors at the Philadelphia VA performed 116 brachytherapy procedures between 2002 and 2008. Of those, 97 were performed incorrectly. Astonishingly, Dr. Kao performed 91 of those 97 incorrect procedures.

The Philadelphia VA suspended their brachytherapy program in 2008 and was fined $200,000 in 2010 for failing to identify or report the problems for such a great length of time. Now, as the final step in their investigation, the NRC has forbidden Dr. Kao from performing almost every procedure incorporating radioactive materials. Incredibly, the NRC has stated they would allow him to perform these procedures again if he were to undergo more training.