BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1237|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1237
Author: Padilla (D), et al
Amended: 4/28/10
Vote: 21
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 5-0, 4/21/10
AYES: Alquist, Leno, Negrete McLeod, Pavley, Romero
NO VOTE RECORDED: Strickland, Aanestad, Cedillo, Cox
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Radiation control: health facilities and
clinics: records
SOURCE : Consumer Attorneys of California
DIGEST : This bill requires health facilities and clinics
that use imaging procedures that involve computed
tomography for diagnostic purposes to record the dose of
radiation used during the administration of the radiation
on the radiology image.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to license
persons who receive, possess, or transfer radioactive
materials, and devices or equipment utilizing these
materials.
2.Requires DPH to adopt registration and certification
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regulations for mammography equipment.
3.Requires DPH to develop and enforce standards for the
education, training, and experience of persons who use
radiologic technology on human beings.
4.Requires DPH, on or before January 1, 2008, to adopt
regulations that require personnel and facilities using
radiation-producing equipment for medical and dental
purposes to maintain and implement medical and dental
quality assurance standards that reduce unnecessary
exposure to ionizing radiation while ensuring that images
are of diagnostic quality.
5.Requires ionizing radiation machines to be inspected once
each year for mammography X-ray units, once every three
years for high-priority sources of ionizing radiation,
and once every four and one-quarter years for
medium-priority sources, as specified.
6.Requires a facility that operates a mammogram machine to
post notices of serious violations in an area that is
visible to patients within two working days after receipt
of the documents from the department, as specified.
This bill, commencing January 1, 2012, requires physicians
or other practitioners, facilities, or other entities that
furnish diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging, computed
tomography, and nuclear medicine services to be accredited
by an organization that is approved by the federal Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/18/10)
Consumer Attorneys of California (source)
Breast Cancer Fund
California Nurses Association
Consumer Federation of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to supporters,
Californians are at increasing risk of over radiation, and
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cites statistics that total exposure to ionizing radiation
has nearly doubled over the past two decades, in large part
because of increased use of computed tomography scans for
medical diagnostic and treatment purposes. Medical
radiation can save lives, but can be deadly if improperly
administered, and can increase a person's lifetime risk of
developing cancer. Problems at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in 2009, in which 206 patients were exposed to overdoses of
radiation over an 18-month period, roughly eight times the
recommended level of radiation, when a scanner used for
brain scans was reconfigured. Over radiation is difficult
to detect if there is no record of the dosage administered,
which this bill would ensure.
The Consumer Attorneys of California (CAC), the sponsor of
SB 1237, states that aside from the tragic incidents that
occurred at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Californians in
general are at increasing risk of over radiation that can
subsequently increase the risk of cancer. CAC states that
the surge in new technology provides many benefits for
diagnosing and treating disease; however, the increasing
dependence on it has created new avenues for errors in
software and operation, and those mistakes cannot only be
difficult to detect, but can become embedded in a treatment
plan and repeated over and over with patients. CAC states
that oversight of medical imaging is fragmented and SB 1237
is intended to take steps to protect patients, including
recording of radiation dosage and adoption of quality
assurance programs to prevent errors such as the ones that
have been recently reported.
The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) states that
this bill will increase patient safety by deterring
one-time over radiation errors, which can cause damage to
DNA and increase a person's lifetime risk for cancer,
especially for children and youth. The risk for over
radiation is becoming more and more likely, as the National
Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements reports
that US citizens are being exposed to ionizing radiation at
twice the level of two decades ago. CFC states that
one-time instances of over radiation may be difficult to
detect without proper documentation of the dosage
administered.
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CTW:nl 5/18/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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