Car crashes into door at Brockton Hospital

BROCKTON - One colleague called Dr. Mark A. Vasa, 58, of Norwell, incredibly gentle and "the anchor of cancer care in Brockton."

Another said he was committed above all to patient care.

While carrying out his medical duties yesterday afternoon, the longtime Brockton Hospital physician and well-respected radiation oncologist was killed when a car crashed through the glass doors of one of the hospital's main entrances, struck four people, and smashed into a reception desk.

Jane Berghold, a 76-year-old breast cancer patient who was at the hospital to deliver an X-ray to Vasa, was the driver, said her husband, Robert Berghold, 81, of Rockland.

Berghold said his wife had recently been diagnosed and was in the middle of chemotherapy. He was not with her and said he did not know how the crash happened, but he said they had recently had the car's brakes repaired.

"It's a terrible thing," he said in a telephone interview. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Authorities were investigating the crash, which happened at 1:33 p.m. at the entrance to the hospital's radiation therapy center. Three other staff members were injured. One was in critical condition after being flown to Massachusetts General Hospital. The others were treated at Brockton Hospital. Their names were not released.

The driver was treated for minor injuries at Brockton Hospital and released.

Rob Brogna, a spokesman for Brockton Hospital, said the radiation therapy center would be closed today. "There's been some cosmetic damage, but nothing structural," he said.

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz, who visited the scene yesterday, said authorities were looking into whether the gray 1991 Oldsmobile Delta 88 had mechanical problems or if driver error was to blame.

State troopers drove the car through the hospital's parking lot yesterday evening, apparently checking its brakes and accelerator.

The driver, Jane Berghold, told WBZ-TV last night that the accident was a blur. "The car didn't stop, and I went right through the doors," she said. ". . . There was glass everywhere, and somebody yelled at me to shut the engine off. I feel sick to my stomach; I'm shaking inside."

Vasa, who had worked at Brockton Hospital for 20 years and was chief of radiation therapy, was chairman of the radiation oncology committee of the Massachusetts Radiological Society. Earlier this year, he was named a fellow in the American College of Radiology.

"Mark was just an incredibly gentle guy," said Dr. David Wazer, chief of radiation oncology at Tufts-New England Medical Center, where Vasa trained in the late 1970s. "He cared deeply for cancer patients and their families. He was really the anchor of cancer care in Brockton for decades. He just loved that hospital, and he loved the Brockton community."

Wazer said he would call Vasa first when his hospital had a patient who needed local care in Brockton.

"Whether Mark would be directly involved in the care or not, he would make sure that the person was connected," he said.

Dr. Max Rosen, a past president of the Massachusetts Radiological society, helped shepherd Vasa through the process of applying to the American College of Radiology.

"The thing that he was most proud of was his commitment to patient care," said Rosen, associate chief for community network services at the radiology department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

"He felt that a field advances by each relationship you have with a patient," Rosen said. "How you act and how you take care of people on an individual basis . . . is how you make your mark on medicine."