[ RadSafe ] Hospital workers subjected to excessive radiation, lawsuits claim

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Hi, Andy.

I agree that I am dubious about claims of acute injury due to radiation, including birth defects.  On the other hand, if enough was getting through the wall to fog their films, then that was far too much (fogged films reduce image clarity, which increases the chances of something being missed, so if nothing else it harms patient care).

It should be relatively easy (though not necessarily cheap) to do a dose reconstruction for the techs.  I hope the facility took some good readings (or better yet, hired a third party to take readings) before they dismantled the wall.

Although I am not convinced actual injury has occurred, I wouldn't want to be the expert witness for the facility.  It is likely to be very uncomfortable.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of KARAM, PHILIP
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 9:10 AM
To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Hospital workers subjected to excessive radiation, lawsuits claim

This really leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, as everyone has said, the lack of shielding is a huge oversight that should have been caught. On the other hand, I tend to be dubious about claims of radiation injury until I know something about the doses to which people were exposed. 

Before accepting the claims that seizures, birth defects, etc. are due to the lack of shielding I think I'd want to make some dose measurements and perform a formal dose reconstruction. Without making the measurements and doing the math we just can't know if this is only an inexcusable mistake in CT room design, or if it also hurt people.

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of S L Gawarecki
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 11:58 AM
To: Franz Schönhofer
Cc: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Hospital workers subjected to excessive radiation, lawsuits claim

What makes this story even more jaw-dropping is that Methodist Medical Center is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one of the original Manhattan Project sites, home of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and birthplace of health physics.  Of course the facility is in violation of the strict standards specified by the state of Tennessee which enforces federal requirements in this area.

This is what can happen when there is no oversight of a contractor's work.
Someone with a radiation safety background should have verified the installation of shielding.

Regards,
*Susan Gawarecki*

ph: 865-494-0102
cell:  865-604-3724
SLGawarecki at gmail.com