According to New York Times' "anxiety-provoking" Sunday report, Dr. Gary Kao of the Philadelphia Veterans Administration hospital botched 79 percent of the prostate cancer treatment cases that involved a common surgical procedure.

Records show that Kao, who has left the hospital, was off target in 92 of the 112 procedures involving the implant of radioactive metal "seeds" in the patients' prostate glands. The 'seeds' wound up in the rectums, bladders and other organs of the patients, leading to numerous side effects including excruciating radiation burns.

Kao's lawyer disputed The Times' account of the six-year span but the newspaper said he practiced in an environment in which there was no in-house peer review of the doctors and was allowed to alter surgical paperwork without any objection from the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

As per the newspaper, for six years Kao practiced in a situation where there was no in-house peer assessment of the doctors, and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission never objected to the alterations he carried out in the surgical paperwork.

However, in fall last year, a federal commission undertook an inspection at the hospital due to the number of patients given erroneous radiation doses. Kao was forced to leave the hospital when the medical center shelved its prostate cancer treatment program because of the still-ongoing probe.