Re: saftey of being in the proximity of someone on RAI therapy

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@yahoo.com>]

Although I am not a lawyer, my understanding is that

regulations apply to licensees.  Licensees cannot ship

or disposed of radioactive waste to unlicensed

landfills.  Since the patient is not licensed, the

regulations do not apply to them.  It would be nice if

they were told to return their contaminated waste to

the licensee, i.e., the hospital, but it is not

required.  For one thing, you are not allowed to ship

radioactive material, e.g., return waste to the

hospital, without proper Dept of Transportation

training.



--- daleboyce@charter.net wrote:



> Are Weidis and Jose out there?

> 

> It would be interesting to get a lawyers opinion on

> this topic. Under what

> laws would the "suits" come after a patient? Yes,

> the NRC position (at least

> in the past) was that licensee's cannot treat

> material contaminated with

> excreta as exempt from disposal and labeling.

> However, since the patient is

> not a licensee they are specifically exempted from

> the disposal

> requirements. I suspect that if you went after a

> patient, a sharp lawyer

> would line their pockets on violation of right to

> privacy. The regulatory

> authorities have no basis to go after the patient,

> and the disposal site

> operator doesn't make a sympathetic plaintiff in a

> civil case, but the

> patient certainly does in a counter suit.

> Instruction from the administering

> institution is in no way binding on the patient.

> 

> Once the hospital has met the release requirements

> to turn the patient

> loose. The material is exempt.  No different than

> your smoke detector. In

> fact if the patient walks AMA the hospital can't

> stop them, and it is still

> exempt.

> 

> § 20.1002 Scope.

> The regulations in this part apply to persons

> licensed by the Commission to

> receive, possess, use, transfer, or dispose of

> byproduct, source, or special

> nuclear material or to operate a production or

> utilization facility under

> Parts 30 through 36, 39, 40, 50, 60, 61, 63, 70, or

> 72 of this chapter, and

> in accordance with 10 CFR 76.60 to persons required

> to obtain a certificate

> of compliance or an approved compliance plan under

> part 76 of this chapter.

> The limits in this part do not apply to doses due to

> background radiation,

> to exposure of patients to radiation for the purpose

> of medical diagnosis or

> therapy, to exposure from individuals administered

> radioactive material and

> released under § 35.75, or to exposure from

> voluntary participation in

> medical research programs.

> 

> Dale

> 

> [67 FR 20370, Apr. 24, 2002; 67 FR 62872, Oct. 9,

> 2002, as amended at 67 FR

> 77652, Dec. 19, 2002]

> 

> 

> 





=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects."

Will Rogers



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com





		

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