Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Americans Get Most Radiation from Too Many Medical Scans

A recent story by the Associated Press revealed that Americans get most of their radiation not from cell phones, microwaves or airport scanners, but from going through medical scans.

While we do get some radiation from these and other sources, a huge part of it is due to too many medical tests.
Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, said the story, even more than people in other Western countries. Half of the most advanced procedures that use radiation in the world occur in the US, while the average American's dose is six times higher than it was a couple of decades ago.

Part of the problem is that some Americans get over-tested for medical problems, or undergo multiple CT scans for different problems that didn't require radiation tests in the past. CT scans, also known as super X-rays, give extremely detailed images, so we can understand the convenience they provide, even though they can be used for tests that do not require radiation, such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The overuse of radiation scans can be linked to the higher image quality of a CT scan as opposed to other tests which is so convenient to doctors, and the fear of malpractice lawsuits. Doctors would like to test everything to make sure they do not miss a heart attack or any other condition.

However, all this radiation poses latent danger that cannot be immediately felt, but can result in serious medical conditions and even cancer in the long run. One medical test involving X-rays is not life-threatening, but if you have several tests over a short time, the radiation dose absorbed by your body increases and with that the risk of cancer.

The increase in radiation levels leads to an increased risk of cancer.

It is mostly up to the patient to keep a track of the number radiation scans since doctors don't necessarily count the previous tests before ordering a new one. The US regulates only the dose for mammograms - there are no federal rules on radiation dose for other tests.

This means that adjusting the dose from an adult to a child is left up to the medical centers performing the tests. It would not be illegal for a medical imaging center to scan a child with the same dose as it does an adult, even though children are more vulnerable to radiation than adults.

There are steps to improve the situation, like introducing or improving federal regulation on setting standard doses for CT scans, or requiring radiation device makers to print the radiation dose on each X-ray or other image so patients and doctors can see how much was given, AP reports.

Another solution would be to keep a medical record that will track radiation tests and doses from cradle to grave.

We look forward to these proposed changes taking place, hopefully in the near future, as it could greatly influence our health.

You can read the whole story here.

Also, find more information about CT scans and child brain injury here.