Is the hospital responsible for treating excreta from the patient as radioactive waste?
If the “released” patient is not discharged from the hospital, the patient continues to represent a source of radiation exposure to others* and, for some treatments, potentially a source of radioactive contamination to the facility and persons in it. Licensees should consider the requirement regarding providing instructions on maintaining exposures ALARA in situations where the individual has been released under ยง 35.75 but remains hospitalized for other reasons; in this case the maximally exposed individual may be a member of the licensee’s staff. Moreover, the basis for the “release” was a total effective dose to others, including hospital staff, patients, and visitors, not likely to exceed 500 mrem. Based on emerging conditions for the hospitalized patient, conditions that differ from those assumed in authorizing the “release” and that result in the possibility of the dose to someone exceeding 500 mrem, the hospital could reconsider the “release” status and consider revoking it, if
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