California Injury Blog
Last year, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and other hospitals across the country, overexposed at least 330 patients to toxic levels of radiation when the hospital’s CT scan machines failed to work properly. Toxic levels of radiation — in some cases eight times safe levels — of radiation were forced upon unsuspecting patients who were being treated for various ailments. These extremely high doses of radiation could lead to a lifetime of pain and suffering. This suffering could have been avoided if legislation was in place that required State regulation of the CT scanning machines and the technicians who run them.
Toxic levels of radiation exposure occur in CT scans and MRI machines in hospitals across the country. Cedars-Sinai is not the first hospital to overexpose patients in its care. Senate Bill 1237 (SB 1237) is designed to protect your family from over exposure to radiation if you should ever need a CT scan. This will eliminate another tragedy like the one experienced last year at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
CT scans that are unregulated — like those at Cedars-Sinai — can give off levels of radiation that are much higher than the allowable dosage. CT scans that give off such high doses of radiation could do serious damage to your body, and even kill you. Patients who have been overexposed live in constant fear of a cancer diagnosis. It leads to psychological trauma, and mental distress — even if the patient never gets physically sick from the exposure.
Some of the dangers of high-level radiation exposure are:
- Hair loss around the exposed area.
- Bodily rashes that can be painful and embarrassing.
- Increases in the risk of many types of cancers.
- Mental distress. Many patients live in daily fear of a cancer diagnosis.
- Depression
- Anxiety
So what will the Medical Radiation Safety Act do for your family? If Senate Bill 1237 — the Medical Radiation Safety Act — passes, the Bill will create a protocol to measure the amounts of radiation which people can be exposed to. This Bill will allow state officials to inspect the machines, and make sure the technicians who operate them have the proper training. Machines that are prone to overexposure will be examined thoroughly, and the technicians will better know what to look for when patients are inside the machines for treatment.
We at Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys Personal Injury Attorneys are in favor of this Bill. When manufacturers of medical equipment fail to design safe machines, it’s up to the courts and the State legislators to take action. By passing this Bill, thousands of patients will be safer when being treated in hospitals within the state of California.