radioisotope misadministrations:revisited

[Rachid Zitouni <azittouni@yahoo.com>]

I have read with interest the comments on radioisotope
misadministrations made by Dr. Julian Gibbs and Dr. Carol Marcus. Each
one of us can identify with either of the positions; one can also come
up with a totally different thinking. 
I believe experience with ionizing radiation has taught us at least
the following:
- on the brighter side: to the benefit of mankind, professionnals in
nuclear medicine and brachytherapy are and will continue to be
credited with outstanding achievements;
- on the negative side: 
  1. For a lot of reasons,not all the incident or      accident cases
are always reported or even      noticed, making sometimes statistics
meaningless;
  2. who's to blame for a mishap? the physician? the        physicist?
the paramedics? I believe nolegislation      will ever be perfect for
cases involving radiation

My opinion: Although we must admit unvolontary mistakes can happen and
we must deal with that, we should always keep in mind that one single
case is one case too many! 

Abderrachid Zitouni, Health Physicist

azittouni@yahoo.com
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