JOURNAL OF THE AMA - To the Editor: We recently treated a 34-year-old
man for Graves disease with 20 mCi of iodine 131. Twenty-four hours
after treatment, his radioactive iodine uptake was 63%. Three weeks
after treatment, he returned to our clinic complaining that he had been
strip-searched twice at Manhattan subway stations. Police had identified
him as emitting radiation and had detained him for further questioning.
He returned to the clinic and requested a letter stating that he had
recently been treated with radioactive iodine.
This patient's experience indicates that radiation detection devices are
being installed in public places in New York City and perhaps elsewhere.
Patients who have been treated with radioactive iodine or other isotopes
may be identified and interrogated by the police because of the
radiation they emit.
We called the Terrorism Task Force of the New York City Police
Department to determine how to prevent detainment of this group of
patients. They recommended that treating physicians provide such
patients with letters describing the isotope used and its dose, its
biological half-life, and the date and time of treatment. The letters
should also provide the physician's 24-hour telephone numbers to allow
the police to verify the content of the letters. If a person who has
been detected as emitting radiation provides such a letter, the police
would then verify the letter's authenticity. Even in the best-case
scenario, however, the patient would have to wait during this
verification process. Patients should be informed about this potential
problem after treatment with radioactive isotopes; they may choose not
to use public transportation to avoid this inconvenience. - Christoph
Buettner, MD, PhD, Martin I. Surks, MD, Department of Medicine Albert
Einstein College of Medicine New York, NY http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v288n21/ffull/jlt1204-3.html
courtesy of UnderNews of 15 Jan. 2K+3
bc
p.s. must be a gamma detector, as the betas are stopped by the neck
flesh (range for 0.2 meV, ~ 0.5mm). Gamma absorption given in: