Answer to Question #3813 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

I would like to know if I can be legally restrained from procedures, such as fluoroscopy, while pregnant. Also, can I be removed from school if I am still training as an x-ray technician? Can the hospital or school withhold me from advancing based on my pregnancy? My baby badge has always read 0. I have signed a waiver releasing the school and hospital from all responsibilities concerning my pregnancy.

It is against the law to discriminate based on pregnancy. See the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website, item four, Sex Discrimination, under Section III What Other Practices. In fact, there was a landmark case in 1993 in which a woman sued Johnson Controls, a battery manufacturer, for not allowing her, while she was pregnant, to work in an area where there were hazardous materials. She won.

There are State and Federal regulations that limit the amount of radiation exposure the fetus of an occupationally exposed woman who has declared her pregnancy can receive. That amount is 500 mrem total during the gestation period (not to exceed 50 mrem per month). It appears that your radiation exposure results are negligible.

Thus, you cannot legally be barred from practicing radiology or advancing in school. The only other item worth looking at might be whether you signed a contract when you applied to attend x-ray technician school—was there anything in that contract where you waived your legal rights to continue if you became pregnant? It is pretty unlikely, but worth checking.

Kelly Classic
Certified Medical Health Physicist