Re: NRC PROPOSES $6,000 FINE AGAINST ST. JOSEPH MERCY HOSPITAL INMICHIGANFOR OVEREXPOSURE TO A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC

[William V Lipton <liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM>]

Although the $6k fine is symbolic, at best, I doubt that it's the end of the story.

I would not be surprised if there is civil litigation that will, win or lose, cost

the licensee big $$.



It would be insane to pull a license on a first violation, unless there were special

circumstances, such as strong evidence that it was willful.  I see no indication of

willfulness. Pulling the license would hurt a lot of people, including me, who is

required to use this hospital by my HMO.



BTW, I've met the RSO in question, and know this person to be competent and

conscientious.  This could happen to any one of us.  Be on guard!  If your employer,

coworkers, or a member of the public asks you to violate requirements, don't be a

"team player" and go along.  They won't back you up if something goes wrong.



The opinions expressed are strictly mine.

It's not about dose, it's about trust.

Curies forever.



Bill Lipton

liptonw@dteenergy.com







Steven Dapra wrote:



> May 14

>

>         This whole boondoggle about the fine is insane.

>

>         If that daughter were pregnant and decided to hire an abortionist to kill

> her child no one -- not even her own husband -- could stop her.  If that

> patient were at death's door he could be moved out of the hospital and the

> daughter could retain one of Jack Kevorkian's kindred spirits to kill said

> patient and the district attorney would probably sit on his hands.

>

>         But just let the daughter get exposed to a relatively small amount of

> radioactivity that even the NRC would admit is harmless, and the regulators

> go berserk.

>

>         To top it all off, Michael D. Kent suggests that the hospital have its

> license revoked for a while, and, "Enough hospital's [sic] lose their

> license, that would scare all the other hospitals to permanently get their

> act together."

>

>         Do you really want to "scare" people??  Have we sunk so far that we are

> proposing that bullying and intimidation be used to whip people into line?

> This is but a shade of Stalinism.  Is health physics supposed to help usher

> in a police state?

>

>         Yes, someone needs to get his act together.

>

> Steven Dapra

> sjd@swcp.com

>

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