Irradiated Patients May Set Off Devices.

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If find this very sad in a number of ways. At first I thought it was satire,

when read on another site................................

 

From News, strange stories:

Strange News - APIrradiated Patients May Set Off Devices Wed Dec 4, 1:52 PM

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CHICAGO (AP) - Patients treated with radioactive materials may be setting off

anti-terrorism devices installed in public places, according to a medical

journal letter detailing a case that occurred in the New York subway.

 

The case involved a 34-year-old man with a thyroid condition who was being

treated with radioactive iodine.

 

Three weeks after treatment, he complained to his doctors that he'd been

strip-searched twice at Manhattan subway stations.

 

" Police had identified him as emitting radiation and had detained him for

further questioning, " according to the letter in Wednesday's Journal of the

American Medical Association (news - web sites).

 

" He returned to the clinic and requested a letter stating that he had recently

been treated with radioactive iodine, " said the letter from Drs. Christoph

Buettner and Martin Surks of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

 

The experience suggests that radiation detection devices are being installed in

public places in New York and perhaps elsewhere and that patients should be

informed of the potential problem, the doctors said.

 

They said they called New York's terrorism task force for advice and were told

that doctors should give patients letters describing the isotope used, its dose

and date of treatment. Such letters should also include doctors' phone numbers

to allow police to verify the information, the physicians said they were told.

 

" Even in the best-case scenerio, however, the patient would have to wait during

this verification process, " the doctors said.

 

Patients may choose to avoid public transportation to escape the problem, the

doctors said.

 

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (news -

external web site) in New York City, said he knew nothing of the man's case or

the journal letter.

 

Michael O'Looney, spokesman for the New York Police Department, said police have

no record of the incident and have not developed any official policy for such

circumstances.

Radioactive materials have a variety of medical uses, including cancer treatment

and diagnostic imaging tests. In the case detailed in JAMA, it was used to treat

Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes excessive production of

thyroid hormones.

Former President Bush (news - web sites) was treated for the condition with

radioactive iodine in 1991.

 

 

 

 

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