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RE: forensic science



My position is that this was not medical use, but gathering evidence in a

criminal matter, entirely out of the purview of any health regulation. If I

had not done the work willingly, I think I would have been ordered by

subpoena to do so. In any case, I was under the direction of the supervising

physician of our diagnostic imaging department, and my work was directly

requested in person by law enforcement, namely the said prosecutor. As it

was a criminal case, it seems to me that any questions of medical risk vs.

benefit were irrelevant.



David L. North, Sc.M., DABR

Medical Physics

Main Bldg Rm 317

Rhode Island Hospital

593 Eddy St.

Providence, RI 02903

(401)444-5961

dnorth@lifespan.org





> ----------

> From: 	Wes Van Pelt

> Reply To: 	Wes Van Pelt

> Sent: 	26, March 2003 16:17

> To: 	RADSAFE

> Cc: 	Wesley R. Van Pelt

> Subject: 	RE: forensic science

> 

> Radsafers,

> 

> David North stated:

> 

> I have personally used diagnostic x-rays to assist a state attorney

> general

> in prosecuting a case of assault with a deadly weapon. The defendant

> claimed

> that he fired a pistol in self-defense against a "friend" who was

> allegedly

> attacking him with a length of steel pipe. There was a small piece of

> metal

> imbedded in the friend's groin which the defendant maintained was a chip

> of

> the pipe knocked off by the defendant's bullet as he was being attacked. I

> was able to show by means of three orthogonal radiographs of the victim's

> groin that the metal piece was consistent with a distorted .32 to .38

> caliber slug, not a jagged shard of pipe. ....

> 

> I believe that the diagnostic radiation dose applied to the man would have

> been illegal in NJ as it had no medical benefit to the person. Any

> comments

> from NJ DEP personnel?

> 

> Regards,

> Wes

> 

> Wesley R. Van Pelt, PhD, CIH, CHP

> Wesley R. Van Pelt Associates, Inc.

> Consulting in Radiation Safety and Environmental Radioactivity.

> http://home.att.net/~wesvanpelt/Radiation.html

> mailto:wesvanpelt@att.net

> 

> 

> 

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