Re: A question of ethics

["Denis Rinkacs, Jr" <dr4i+@andrew.cmu.edu>]

Greetings,

I have recently undergone back surgery and one of the diagnostic tests
that was done on me was a bone scan utilizing 29.4mCi of Tc99m.  Having
some "knowledge" regarding the risks of radiation, I did not ask for a
disertation on the risks of the procedure.  What I did ask for was an
idea of what the exposure would be from the Tc99m and got a resounding
"I don't know"!  I did not ask the MD, I questioned the nucmedtech.  My
question for the members of RADSAFE is "shouldn't the med tech have some
idea of the exposure or is it something that he/she is not allowed to
talk about/tell the patient?" Is this something I should've asked the MD
if I really wanted to know? Would I have gotten an answer? I guess I
could've calculated my exposure but never got around to it. BTW, I was
reading ~10mRem/hr on contact with my lower back (kidneys, bladder etc.).

I apologize if I brought up something already discussed, but like I
said, I just got back to the office after 5 weeks recuperating from
surgery.

Denis Rinkacs
RSO, Carnegie Mellon University
dr4i@andrew.cmu.edu
412-268-3221