Apparently everyone here is trying to help LZ. However, one should
consider whether your advice is really helping or hurting. The mistake
cannot be undone. There is no need to exaggerate the consequence of the
mistake, and urge LZ to commit in futile struggles. After all, they are
new parents and have more important things to do. The following will be
my last comments:
1) Do not exaggerate the situation. Yes, radiation is bad. But it is
all about dose. It is the cumulative dose that matters, not intensity
of exposure. There is probably controversy about safety of CT, but
there is no controversy about safety of simple X-ray. This is not a
completely unknown area. Exposure to 1-2 rad of radiation during
pregnancy, the risk of leukemia later in childhood (the most radiation
sensitive cancer) increases from 3.6 per 10,000 to 5 per 10,000, with an
absolute increase of 0.014%. Do you know how many chest x-ray it takes
to reach 1 rad of radiation? 14,286 two view chest X-ray. This is not a
risk of 10%, 1% or even 0.1% as someone suggested. It is not a
measurable risk.
2) Yes, the resident made a terrible mistake. But this is not all his
fault, as someone also mentioned. This is an event of system failure at
multiple levels. Did radiologist check indications? How did the doctor
obtain parental consent with this order? Did the nursery nurse raise
suspicion? Did the nurse notify parents of procedure? Did the
attending or senior resident check order? Medical system is designed to
have multiple check points to prevent such mistakes, and it cannot be
all his fault.
3) It is unacceptable that no one apologize to LZ. This is a mistake,
and LZ deserve an formal apology. This apology is usually given orally
by the senior attending, because junior residents are often instructed
to stay away from such situation. If that did not happen, I am all for
writing to the department chief or president of the hospital for a
complaint, as long as LZ feel comfortable doing such things at this busy
time of life.
