RADS

RADS, based on a real happening in the 1980s, is a tale of technology, human shortsightedness and human error in the medical arena.         

            Stricken with breast cancer at a young age of 40, Barbara, with an excellent prognosis, receives radiation treatments on a brand new, computer-controlled machine.

            Kathleen, her radiation technologist, is an ardent caregiver to the sick. She is fond of Barbara, especially since Barbara is her inaugural patient on their one of a kind machine, as this x-healer is.

            Barbara enjoys the concern, the care, and the courtesy of the staff. But there are holes in the system, hidden from her.

            The chief radiation oncologist is an old-style hotshot who stubbornly believes in his medical self-sufficiency. The team approach is not for him in the era of the complex technology. With an abundant faith in the trustworthiness of the computer and the x-healer maker, his primary interest is in treating as many patients as possible. And he lets small errors pile up in the system.

            Will they start a chain reaction, leading to a catastrophe?          

            A junior radiation oncologist and the physicist in charge of certifying the treatment-worthiness of the x-healer speculate on the vagaries of a novel device such as this behemoth. But their hands are tied to do anything by the old-guard that shuns dissent.

            The department hums along. But fireworks of sound and fury occasionally erupt between the chief and his professional subordinates.

            Barbara full of anticipation arrives in the department for her final treatment. Her cancer eradicated, she is brimming with hope of reclaiming her future. But fate wills otherwise.

            She’s on the table, waiting to be treated. A nimble Kathleen is at the controls. The unexpected happens, as if a bolt out of the blue, and the computer morphs the x-healer into a dastardly monster. There is nothing to stop it.

            First nature hit her with cancer. Now machine has her by her throat. And she in just a few moments is thrown into another vortex of survival.        

            Barbara’s ill-fated condition catalyzes a furious sleuthing. The physicist turns into a medical “Sherlock Holmes.” He must not rest until he pries out the goblin hiding in the machine. The machine went berserk under Kathleen’s commands. The physicist needs her – night and day – to help him ferret out the flaw. But the road is rough.

            Kathleen – young and full of charm offensive – is mortified to see her patient damaged. She blames herself for Barbara’s plight. Anxiety etches on her pretty face. And her husband, a jealous and a suspicious person, is utterly unsupportive of her in her hour of need. She longs to lean on her favorite physicist’s shoulder for solace.

            The protagonist’s wife normally is trusting of her man, but now she’s filled with fear. A competitor has formed out of this tragedy. She watches with unrelenting worry. Internal conflict robs her sleep. Could he in this time of difficulty fall in the inviting arms of his alluring assistant?

            What can the physicist do? He must do everything to stop the radiation machine from “frying” another patient.

            Can he reconcile his professional duty, his marital fidelity, and the magnetic charm of his female helper?

            Can he pull it off?