RE: detecting medical isotopes at airport security

["Flood, John" <FloodJR@nv.doe.gov>]

The gate-mounted alarm systems at the Nevada Test Site are set off

frequently by nuclear medicine patients (including me last year).  What is

surprising is that a substantial fraction, perhaps one third, of those

patients are not aware that radioactive material was used in the tests.

That makes life more difficult for everyone involved - the patient, the

security staff at the gate, and everyone trying to enter the site at the

time of the alarm.  All of the fussing could be minimized if the medical

staff would simply tell the patient about the radioactivity and the

possibility of setting off alarms.  I see no reason why the physician

ordering the test can't explain the test to the patient - certainly the

patient has a right to know.  And I don't see where this would increase the

cost of providing medical care.



Bob Flood

Nevada Test Site Dosimetry



-----Original Message-----

From: SiegelB@MIR.WUSTL.EDU [mailto:SiegelB@MIR.WUSTL.EDU] 

Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 6:33 AM

To: William V Lipton

Cc: Carol Marcus; knwachter@juno.com; owner-radsafe@list.Vanderbilt.Edu;

radsafe@list.Vanderbilt.Edu

Subject: Re: detecting medical isotopes at airport security



How much are you willing to pay per nuclear medicine procedure for the

added cost of providing this information to all patients?  Since this

appears to be a very small problem indeed, the proposed solution seems a

bit over the top.



Note that revised 10 CFR 35.75 actually was a rule that resulted in

substantial medical care cost savings, since formerly many of the patients

affected by this rule were hospitalized for 2-3 days to protect members of

the general public from a radiation hazard.  The cost of providing these

patients with oral and written instructions is offset by the costs saved,

but this would not apply to the millions of other patients who have nuclear

medicine procedures each year.



Barry A. Siegel, MD

siegelb@mir.wustl.edu