RE: $5.4M Radiation Case Settlement Ok'd

["Sewell, Linda" <LMS1@pge.com>]

Hi All,

I couldn't help but jump in here.  I am the Dosimetry Supervisor here at
Diablo Canyon so I see most of the folks who "flunk" our portals here due to
medical uptakes.  Most of them are told by their Doctors, Nuc. Med Techs,
etc. that they are getting some radioactive material, however it is well
below anything we could detect at Diablo Canyon.  This is the comment that
troubles me.  No wonder the mis-perceptions are out there when
"knowledgeable" folks like MD's etc. get it so wrong.  

I have one employee who is still alarming the portal monitors 2 months after
a thyroid ablation.  That is no surprise to me with initial activities in
the double digit millicuries of I-131, but it sure surprised the radiologist
when he found out.  From an education standpoint, I guess that's one down
and many to go.

Enjoy!!

Linda


Linda M. Sewell, CHP
Diablo Canyon Power Plant
PO Box 56
Avila Beach,  CA  93424
(805) 545-4315 (voice)
(805) 545-2618 (fax)
mailto:lms1@pge.com


 

> ----------
> From: 	Bob Flood[SMTP:bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU]
> Reply To: 	radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
> Sent: 	Friday, May 07, 1999 7:57 AM
> To: 	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: 	Re: $5.4M Radiation Case Settlement Ok'd
> 
> At 08:27 AM 5/7/99 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >I have had several Radiation Workers here at a power reactor come in to
> work and
> >fail the contamination monitors on the way out of the plant. It seems
> that
> their
> >doctor have them "someting" to check on their heart....
> 
> In my nuclear power experience, the gatehouse portal monitors were
> configured so that everyone passed through them entering and exiting the
> site. The vast majority of alarms happened on people ENTERING the site,
> and
> were due to the diagnostic or therapeutic use of radioactive material. The
> sad part was that the majority of these people found out that
> radioactivcity was involved from the plant HP staff, not from their
> doctors
> or the medical staff conducting the tests/procedures.
> 
> And my wife has been through a few thyroid studies and my kids have had
> bone scans, and never a word has been said about radioactive material.
> 
> This common failure to disclose or inform does raise a very interesting
> question about informed consent as it applies to this case - was it really
> any different from the way that treatments are given today?
> 
> By the way, it seems to me that the settlement in this case was a purely
> business decision. With 90 plaintiffs and multiple defendants, it appears
> to me that the defendants would have spent more than $5.4 million to WIN
> the case in court, so this decision was a matter of controlling costs.
> It's
> the American way!
> 
> ===================================
> Bob Flood
> Dosimetry Group Leader
> Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
> (650) 926-3793
> bflood@slac.stanford.edu
> ************************************************************************
> The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
> 
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html