Interesting question brought up while I am sitting here with this table of data, 2001 effective dose estimates for the ablation treatment room, in front of me.
Using the length of treatment hours a patient spends in our ablation room, initial exposure measurements taken at 1 meter, and a calculated decay constant for each patient. I find the total treatment exposures, calculated, for the year is less than 75 mrem, at one meter (we had 19 ablation patients last year.). I don't have nureg 1556, vol 9, in front of me to look at the calculated criteria for release. I don't have patient information which can matter so much in a situation like this (small children at home...). I don't excuse a mistake like what occurred. Just some interesting numbers. Very course, but interesting.
Kaye Larson
Health Physicist
Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston
Kaye.Larson@amedd.army.mil
-----Original Message-----
From: William V Lipton [mailto:liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM]
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 7:17 AM
To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: "Oops, I did it, again." (medical misadministration)
My question: Was the patient released, in accordance with 10 CFR 35.75,
on the basis of a 32 mCi administration? If so, the 500 mrem exposure
limit for a member of the public was probably exceeded.