Alberta woman dies from chemotherapy overdose

[CHIMO]

The Alberta Cancer Board has apologized to the family of a cancer patient who died after an overdose of chemotherapy.

Dr. Tony Fields told a news conference Thursday that the woman's death last week is "a most unfortunate incident." She died from internal bleeding and multiple organ failure.

"This is one of our worst nightmares," said Fields, the cancer board's vice-president of medical affairs and community oncology. "This was a young woman in her forties. A wife, a sister, a mother."

The woman was sent home July 31 with chemotherapy medication from a clinic at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute. The automatic pump administering the drugs was programmed incorrectly and delivered the medication over four hours rather than four days.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2006/08/31/cancer-death.html