Word: farber
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...Boston Globe since 1982, she had covered everything from leading-edge research to the finer points of a physician's bedside manner. When she learned she had an advanced case of breast cancer, she carefully studied her options and chose to undergo an experimental treatment offered at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a prestigious hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Tragically, the 39-year-old mother of two died in December. But as a front-page story in the Globe disclosed last week, her death was not the result of her disease. The cause was a huge overdose...
Once malignant cells have spread beyond their original location, however, traditional chemotherapy is usually much less successful at producing a cure. In an attempt to develop a treatment for these more advanced cases, the researchers at Dana-Farber have been experimenting with levels of antitumor agents that are much higher than those normally prescribed. In Lehman's case, the treatment was to last four days, and the amount given during each 24-hour period was supposed to be barely shy of lethal. The physician in charge of figuring out her daily dosage, whose identity has not been released, apparently made...
Still, all hospitals double-check the dosage of chemotherapy drugs that are given to a patient--and Dana-Farber is no exception. According to Gina Vild, a hospital spokeswoman, once the physician has written the order, Dana-Farber's rules require two pharmacists to verify it. "Pharmacist 1 is supposed to check it and, yes, is supposed to make the calculations himself," she told TIME. He then "gives it to Pharmacist 2, who looks at it and checks it" before sending the drug to the patient's room. When the order for Lehman came through, neither pharmacist caught the mistake...
...Dana-Farber has acknowledged full responsibility for Lehman's death, as well as the permanent heart damage of another woman who managed to survive an identical fourfold overdose. In addition to ordering an exhaustive investigation, the hospital's top physician has mandated additional precautions against such egregious mistakes. Staff members have been reassigned, and the pharmacy's computer program has been modified so that drugs cannot be dispensed over preset limits...
...nationally-known Jimmy Fund of Dana-Farber Cancer Center not been involved with the Evening With Champions case, Harvard might even have tried to treat Lee's crime as an internal matter. The University's attempts to cover up the Yearbook and Krokodiloes investigations could not be more inappropriate...