Re: Queries

["John Moulder" <jmoulder@post.its.mcw.edu>]

> 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....

> I like #2, and I suppose that's the gist of the comments...

Two things that we need to face (at least in the US) are:
1 - Radiation safety and radiation biology are not a mandatory part of 
physician training.  As a result, most physicians in the US know no more about 
radiation hazards than any other well-informed lay person.  Most of the 
information they do have comes from mass media sources.
2 - A physician who is not in a teaching hospital is not going to have an easy 
time finding quality information about radiation hazards.  Who are they going 
to call?  

BTW:  If you think physician knowledge is bad on ionizing radiation, you 
should hear some of the things they say about non-ionizing.


John Moulder (jmoulder@its.mcw.edu)
Radiation Biology Group
Medical College of Wisconsin