UPDATE: Please also check out my new book, The Definitive Dossier on PTSD in Whistleblowers, in which I dedicate chapter four entirely to the exploits of Dr. Anna Chacko.
In his article on the radiological website, Aunt Minnie, Brian Casey listed the charges by Dr. Anna Chacko against the Pittsburgh VA in detail. Most of it comes from the memo she had published on the internet. Here's one of the charges repeated by Casey of Chacko's against the Pittsburgh VA.
Chacko and Melhem also butted heads over clinical issues, such as the hospital's use of technetium-99m, the radiopharmaceutical that's been in short supply due to repairs at the Canadian nuclear reactor that produces most of North America's supplies.
Chacko said that due to its lower radiation dose compared to an alternative radioisotope, thallium, she preferred that VA physicians work around technetium supply shortages to ensure that patients were scheduled when the radioisotope could still be used. But Chacko said she found cases in which orders made by nuclear medicine physicians for technetium studies were changed without their knowledge to use thallium instead. Substituting radiopharmaceuticals without the prescribing physician's knowledge is a serious violation of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rules, she said.
In fact, the VA was asked about this specific charge and here's they responded to other media about it.
Frantz said the VA Medical Inspector General investigated whether the radiation doses affected patient care and concluded that "no issues were identified."
Yet, the fact that this specific charges was investigated by the Inspector General's office and found to be without merit is NOT mentioned anywhere in the piece. Casey has also not responded to multiple emails for comment on the ommission.
