re: Queries

[GEORGE CICOTTE <GEORGE_CICOTTE@health.ohio.gov>]

     Regarding the physician who recommended abortion for a fetus 
     [potentially] exposed to what was [probably] a small tritium uptake:
     
     I think we're making way too many assumptions regarding this anecdotal 
     reference.  There are some potential confounding factors that I see 
     (IMO):
     1.  The physician may be stupid - unlikely but possible
     2.  The physician may be uninformed - quite credible, but not certain
     3.  The physician may have been looking for an excuse to advise the 
     woman to have an abortion because he's a big proponent thereof, for 
     economic, political, etc., reasons - probably not as credible as 2., 
     and you'd never be able to prove it anyway
     4.  The woman wanted/considered/asked about an abortion, but needed a 
     credible reason for doing so, either as a sop to her conscience or for 
     legal reasons - also credible
     5.  The physician used tritium as a scapegoat for some other reason 
     that would have been harder to explain to the woman, in the knowledge 
     that the woman wouldn't know the difference
     
     I like #2, and I suppose that's the gist of the comments, but let's 
     not assume automatically that people make these decisions based on the 
     surface facts.  There are lots of motivations that have nothing to do 
     with radiation.
     
     On the physician who apparently agonized over whether to do the 
     late-term diagnostic, my personal opinion is that they probably didn't 
     understand the differences in radiosensitivity in early vs. late term, 
     but it's equally possible that the physician was thinking about the 
     fetus in the same way as he would a small child, and simply didn't 
     bother to communicate this distinction to the patient.  A 
     knowledgeable patient wouldn't necessarily bother asking the physician 
     whether they understood the point.
     
     Sorry to ramble, but the physician bashing was getting a little long 
     in the tooth, and appeared to be based on some pretty tenuous 
     assumptions regarding what was said or understood.
     
     V/R
     george_cicotte@health.ohio.gov.us