AW: [ RadSafe ] CT scans dangerous?

[Franz Schönhofer]

Gary,

Not taking into consideration the complicated discussion about medical
exposure, but only the patients exposure I fully support your statement. A
few weeks ago I woke up in a red cross rescue car, being told on my
bewildered question that I had fallen down at an escalator and badly hurt my
head and that I was to be transported to the central Viennese Hospital. 
There I was subjected to a CT scan and was really relieved, that there was
no damage of my skull and my brain. I did not ask for my radiation dose....
I do not care for any radiation effects in this my own case and I fully
support the Austrian Radiation Protection Laws which exempt medical
applications from the Radiation Protection Law! 

I do not forget the responsibility of medical doctors to minimize the
radiation exposure. A routineous exposure in CT scans, which only serve an
additional income of the respective laboratory has to be categorilly
refused! 

This message was written and forwarded at about 9:40 Middle Europan Winter
Time on Thursday, 8 November ,which is approximately 6 hours ahead in New
York and about 8 hours ahead in my beloved South West (New Mexico, Utah,
Colorado....). The time for forwarding to the list is at present about two
days (48 hours), which makes me wonder, how this list can still be called a
"discussion group". 

Best regards,

Franz



Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von garyi at trinityphysics.com
Gesendet: Dienstag, 06. November 2007 02:21
An: radsafe at radlab.nl
Betreff: RE: [ RadSafe ] CT scans dangerous?

John is correct - ALARA does not apply to medical exposures (not to be
confused with 
occupational exposure to medical techs and such).  ALARA, God help us, is a
regulatory 
issue.  But when a physician uses radiation for treatment or diagnosis,
he/she is assumed to 
take minor issues like stochastic effects into consideration when weighing
the risk vs benefit.

-Gary Isenhower