French trial opens on cancer radiation scandal
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Buy SPH photosPARIS (AFP) - Two doctors and a radiophysicist went on trial on Monday on manslaughter charges arising from radiation overdoses given to nearly 450 cancer patients in a French hospital.
At least seven people died as a result of overdoses administered to patients at the Jean Monnet hospital in Epinal in north-eastern France between 2001 and 2006.
At least 24 people treated between May 2004 and August 2005 received 20 per cent more radiation than they should have had due to a calibration error.
Another dysfunction led to 424 people being overdosed by between eight per cent and 10 per cent in the period spanning 2001 and 2006. Many of the victims were being treated for prostate cancer.
