Radioactive Patients Set Off Subway Alarms

New Scientist ^ | 12-05-2002 | Emma Young

[blam]

Radioactive patients set off subway alarms

12:55 05 December 02

NewScientist.com news service

Americans undergoing radioactive medical treatments risk setting off anti-terrorism sensors in public places, and subsequent strip searches by police, warn doctors at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

A 34-year-old patient who had been treated with radioactive iodine for Graves disease, a thyroid disorder, returned to their clinic three weeks later complaining he had been strip-searched twice in Manhattan subway stations. Christopher Buettner and Martin Surks report the case in a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Police had identified him as emitting radiation and had detained him for further questioning. This patient's experience indicates that radiation detection devices are being installed in public places in New York City and elsewhere," the doctors write.

Buettner and Surks contacted the Terrorism Task Force of the New York City Police Department to determine how to prevent other patients being detained.

A letter describing the isotope used and its dose, its biological half-life and the date and time of treatment, plus a 24-hour contact telephone number for the patient's physician should help, the police said.

But even in the best-case scenario, a patient will have to wait while the contents of the letter are verified, say the doctors. "They may choose not to use public transportation to avoid this inconvenience," they write.

Journal reference: Journal of the American Medical Association (vol 288, p 2687)

Emma Young

[Chemist_Geek]

"Police had identified him as emitting radiation and had detained him for further questioning. This patient's experience indicates that radiation detection devices are being installed in public places in New York City and elsewhere," the doctors write.

Gee thanks Doc, didya ever hear of "Loose Lips Sink Ships?"

[jlogajan]

My wife had her thyroid nuked with radioactive iodine. We could trace her movements upstairs by using a geiger-counter in the basement. Toilet water was, of course, "hot" as well.