Hospital error leads to radiation overdoses at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai

Scores of radiation overdoses at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have been traced to a mistake the hospital made resetting a CT scanner. Hospital officials said that the error occurred in February 2008, when the hospital began using a new protocol for a specialized type of scan used to diagnose strokes, which meant resetting the machine to override the pre-programmed instructions that came with the scanner when it was installed. The dose of radiation was eight times what it should have been.